Plasma Burns
by Vvheelthewriter
Summary: He burned and burned like the sun and she didn't feel the impact until her wings had long melted.
1. Chapter 1

2053: 20 years before the modern day.

For an organization that placed itself firmly under the UN's thumb, it sure as hell broke a lot of rules. And he didn't mean Blackwatch break the rules. He meant children in the government building break the rules. He didn't protest so much with Fareeha. She was a toddler when Ana joined Overwatch, and the second-in-command wouldn't even consider not having her young daughter visit while she was stationed in Gibraltar. Usually accompanying her father, Fareeha filled the usually-sterile hallways with laughter.

Reyes didn't even pretend he wasn't charmed by the little girl.

But then he was the one bringing the kid in. Sporting a bullet wound to the ribs, Reyes had dragged the half-conscious teenager to the infirmary himself. When Jack protested, Reyes held up a dark hand to him, "After everything we've been through, just give me this one."

The Commander of Overwatch sighed in exasperation, but looked between Reyes and the cowboy with a finality, "You'd risk Blackwatch for him?"

"Blackwatch needs him." He didn't tell Jack his bullet wound was Jesse's doing, and that nobody had caught him like that with a ballistic weapon in his entire military career. He was too swift, too careful, but Jesse had sharp eyes. And with training, he could prove to be a useful asset to Blackwatch. He was too young and reckless to show anyone loyalty yet, especially not the Deadlock Gang. Reyes would teach him loyalty.

Jack had protested more, but in the end he conceded and didn't regret it. Months later and the kid picked up Blackwatch tactics like he'd been born doing them. Reyes felt a sense of pride, but that was usually quickly squashed when Jesse opened his mouth and said something stupid.

The last time a kid entered Watchpoint: Gibraltar was when Torbjorn brought Angela Ziegler to work with him. All Reyes knew about her was that she was a Swiss university student and that Torbjorn's wife had practically raised her. He didn't acknowledge Torbjorn's news much save to wonder out loud why Jack was allowing college kids to just stop by for personal calls.

Torbjorn crossed his meaty arms, not intimidated by Reyes at all. Reyes kept his focus on a tablet in his hands displaying the Los Angeles Dodgers' most recent scores. The Swedish engineer piped in despite Reyes's disinterest, "She's not a child, Reyes. She's eighteen and a doctor. She expressed concern with my recent injury and wanted to look for herself."

Reyes raised an eyebrow at that, "Thought you said she was a university student."

"On her second medical doctorate."

The Blackwatch Commander whistled in surprise, "Must be some university student. But Overwatch doesn't have visiting hours, Lindholm."

The engineer rolled his eyes, hurumphing in offense but Reyes paid no mind. He said all he was going to say on the matter. He wasn't Overwatch's Commander so it wasn't his call.

-0-

Jesse McCree was charming. She knew men like Jesse many times in her life, but he lacked that predator's grin and the bad intentions. Even as suave as he tried to be, he was tripping over himself trying to property greet her in introduction. He straightened his humorously large and decorated hat and spoke slang she didn't understand.

Torbjorn stood idly by, arms crossed as she shook hands with the cowboy. He didn't seem to trust Jesse much, it having something to do with him only being attached to Overwatch for a few months. Something about this man's past made Torbjorn wary, so Angela kept her greeting prim and polite.

Jesse asked her a million questions, mostly about her experiences as a doctor. Leaving out the gory details, she explained how she was able to academically achieve what she had at such a young age. She was happy that he seemed to genuinely care. What was such a kind soul doing attached to a military organization?

She noticed his attire was decorated in reds and blacks, with a strange owl logo presented on his outfit. He certainly didn't look Overwatch. She chose not to let the topic slide, "Your logo. I've never seen that one before. Was that your old gang?"

Both Torbjorn and Jesse seemed to silence at that. Jesse opened his mouth to reply, but came with nothing, "I, er…"

"He works for me, not Overwatch," the group was interrupted by an angry presence, "You're twenty minutes late for drills."

Jesse sheepishly tipped his hat, "Sorry boss, I was just askin' the lady a few questions."

"I didn't mean to keep him," Angela smiled softly at the large man in the hallway. He was intimidating and radiated danger, but she tended to attract to those who demanded respect. She understood them. Everything, from his olive skin to his clearly enhanced physique, told her that this was Gabriel Reyes.

He leveled her with a look, a mixture of confusion and interest. She didn't know what he could possibly find interesting about her. Those amber eyes snapped to Jesse and the gunslinger stood to attention, "Get going, kid."

"'Of course, boss," Jesse gripped Angela's hand, "Nice to meet you Miss Ziegler."

She smiled, but her tone was matter-of-fact, " Doctor Ziegler."

"Right, doc. You've earned that one," the cowboy grinned at her and headed past Reyes, down the hallway to another sector of the building. Angela noticed he never answered her question about his outfit.

Now Reyes stood before her, clad in armor of the same colors with that owl skull on his arm. Something about his posture made her decide it was best not to ask too many questions. She was simply a guest here, after all. She smiled at the man again, ignoring Torbjorn's noticeably sour demeanor, "Commander Reyes-"

"Just Reyes, doc."

That nickname wasn't her favorite, but she would choose it over miss , "Alright, Reyes it is then. I've read quite a bit about you. It's nice to see the man that comes with the stories."

"Nothing too classified, I hope," his tone was so dry, she couldn't tell if he was joking. She was suddenly struck by how handsome he was, even with the hood of his jacket pulled up. He had sharp features, naturally so that didn't come with just age. Scars littered his face and the olive of his skin brightened his amber eyes. Beneath his hood, she could just barely see dark hair swept back out of his face. With the red and black that decorated him, he was the personification of fire. But not the kind that kept you warm. The dangerous, explosive kind that burned and burned until there was nothing left. Plasma , not fire, she supposed.

The happiness in her features dulled the longer she looked at him. She considered that it might seem rude to look at a stranger in such a way when Torbjorn interrupted her thoughts, "Angela, Reinhardt's waiting in the infirmary to see you. Poor man's been tidying it up all day. Think he's trying to impress you."

She smiled, looking from Reyes to Torbjorn now, "Yes, we mustn't keep him waiting. It was nice to meet you, Commander Reyes." She held out her hand and he took it without hesitation. His was large and warm in hers. She let go almost as soon as they touched. Practically yanked away by the man who helped raise her, she glanced over her shoulder slightly at him as he retreated down the hallway after Jesse.

-0-

The cowboy was going to do 300 push-ups until his arms fell off. Whichever came first. Reyes watched, glaring out at the sun over the training yard as his prodigy continued the arduous drills. That would teach him for even considering being late again.

When Jesse was done, sprawled across the grass like a panting animal, he looked at Reyes through sweaty hair, "What's got you so distracted, boss? Usually you're getting' a little more fun outta my misery."

Reyes shrugged a shoulder, squinting at the sun again, "Nothin' kid."

Overwatch wasn't meant for kids. But Fareeha wasn't just a kid. She was the only daughter of the best sniper in the world. An Egyptian tactical genius that earned her place as second-in-command and sacrificed the potential for a life of safety and security with her family for their cause. Jesse wasn't just a kid. He was the greatest sharpshooter Reyes had ever seen, had reflexes like a rattlesnake and the wit to match. Not that he'd ever say that out loud to inflate the brat's head. And, Reyes thought as he watched the feeble clouds over Gibraltar attempt to cover the sun, Angela Ziegler wasn't a kid.

He pointedly wouldn't think about how she physically radiated maturity. He was having a hard enough time under her stare, he didn't need to bother himself thinking about how a woman who'd clearly seen war and had a sharp mind could also end up looking so...so…

Forget it, he scowled to himself. But he couldn't forget it, not really. It wasn't that she was beautiful. Which she was, but again, don't go there, Reyes. It was the fact that she looked at him with those wide blue eyes and she saw something that made her sad. He didn't know what it was, but he saw the light in her dim just slightly. What did she see?

He glanced briefly at his own hands, ticking off the different scars and marks in his mind. How he got each one. The scars he couldn't remember getting. The old, nearly-hidden scars from back in Los Angeles. Suddenly, he roughly called Jesse over and the cowboy trailed after him hurriedly as he stormed inside.

It didn't matter what she saw. He would make sure nobody ever saw it again.

-0-

2058: Five years later.

John Morrison, introduced to her as Jack, invited her to Overwatch personally. Perhaps he knew that Ana customarily didn't radiate warmness and that her invitation should have a more personal quality. He was charming, handsome, everything the United Nations wanted Overwatch's leader to be. They thought it would make them seem more friendly. To Angela, it made her hackles raise that much more. Barely into her twenties and head surgeon at the hospital, her time was cut evenly between high-stakes surgeries and nanite research. She was on edge with her own hospital. The investors and certainly the Swiss government were unwilling to properly fund her research, no matter how many times she proved it could save lives. The Omnic Crisis made people scared of advanced technology. What if the nanites became sentient, they reasoned. No matter what she said, she couldn't convince them the impracticality of those fears.

She wasn't afraid of technology, even when the Omnic Crisis took her own parents, but she was cautious. And imagine her caution when she elbowed her office door open to face the Commander of Overwatch standing near her favorite painting with an avid curiosity.

He turned to her, blonde and blue-eyed like her, looking far too innocent for the leader of a military organization. She chose not to protest that he was in her office uninvited, instead keeping a neutral expression as she set down her paperwork on her desk along with the mug of tea she was desperately trying not to spill earlier, "Commander Morrison."

"Jack is fine, doctor."

She was reminded of her last encounter with an Overwatch leader. The man with pain under his skin. The last time she saw him was almost five years ago, when Reinhardt insisted the Commander join them in a photo when he was once again trying to pry Jesse away from her. The cowboy stood behind her, grinning, but his commander stood as far away from her as he could, frowning at the camera as she smiled. His darkness was profoundly noticeable in the room. She wondered why he radiated so much anger. From what she'd heard about him, he was a good soldier and a good man. Yet...something was different about his demeanor.

She looked at Jack instead of thinking about it, forgetting Gabriel Reyes once more. At least Jack didn't call her doc. She gave him a strained, uncomfortable smile, "Why are you here, Jack?"

It sounded more familiar than she'd meant. It sounded slightly more fearful than she meant. But Jack grinned, "Overwatch isn't scared of nanites, Dr. Ziegler. The United Nations isn't scared of spending, either. You can stay here, keep doing those open heart surgeries...or you can join us and prevent hearts from ever getting weaker."

"My research...it will be classified…" her argument was weak and Jack picked up on it. He could tell how much she wanted this.

"Groundbreaking technology has to start somewhere. In your case it's in Gibraltar. Can I count on you?" There it was. She pressed her lips together tightly. There was the ultimatum.

In the end she didn't need to give him a verbal answer. The sigh she let out was enough of an agreement for him.

-0-

Watchpoint: Gibraltar was different when she saw it this time. Instead of wide and wondrous and new, she saw steel and unfamiliarity. It was the feeling of standing in your new, empty apartment. Only it was a medical research wing the size of her old hospital.

"Dr. Ziegler?"

She snapped out of her thoughts, looking away from the window overlooking the Spanish bay. Well... aSpanish bay. The window was just a projection. She turned fully away from it to look at Jack. He looked concerned. She didn't understand why he should care at all. She was still a stranger.

She blinked, pushing the thoughts and the fears and the worries away. This was her life now. Twenty-three and the head of medical research at Overwatch. She grimaced, thinking of the potential for her research to be used to hurt instead of help. But she was placing her cards in Jack's hands out of desperation. Without funding from the UN, she would never see her research come to light.

She didn't like the way Jack looked at her, like she was precious and fragile. She hardened her features, "I'll let your agents know where to put my things. Let us begin, Jack."

-0-

She wrung and wrung her hands, rinsing them over and over until they were clean enough for her liking. Unpacking the wrapped apple she'd carried to work from her room, she began eating her snack when the mess hall was greeted by another presence.

She didn't know much about Blackwatch. The men and women who wore red and black with secrets in their eyes. She knew they were killers, didn't have to guess as much when she took part in treating them. However, she had no access to their files aside from medical basics. Blood types could only tell her so much. She didn't know a thing about them and they operated only a wing away from her in Gibraltar.

She chose to fill the silence, "Commander Reyes."

He nodded to her, hyper-focused on the tablet in his hands. The voices coming from it were American ones, drowned out by cheers. She could only assume he was watching a sport of some kind.

She glanced down at her notes, mostly prepared for her budget proposal for Jack and the UN. Jack had assured her she would be approved for anything she wanted provided she could give a proper reason. He also asked her to ease up on the science lingo. She snorted, picking up a pen to continue writing out finances. She wouldn't be 'dumbing down' her research so men in Valentino suits could understand everything. She was going to save lives, that's all that they needed to understand.

She couldn't help but glance up at Reyes, though she knew he could see her looking. Let him know. She wasn't ashamed of assessing him. Jack, in all his friendliness, had been too busy to properly introduce anyone to her. Most of them were out on missions or in the Blackwatch wing she was forbidden from anyways. He'd apologized, saying he would make up for it when he could. She'd assured him, once again , that she was perfectly capable of social cues despite her age.

She didn't know if the Overwatch Commander was just trying to be friendly or if his intentions were to manipulate her into becoming a more enthusiastic member. God forbid he was trying to be fatherly . Like Reyes, Jack was around two decades older than her, though the Soldier Enhancement Program prevented them from aging as much.

She nearly jumped when Jesse entered the room, bursting through the silence like a twister. He gave her an award-winning grin, the happiest anyone in Gibraltar looked to see her. She blinked in surprise as he strolled over and slumped into the chair across from her.

"This seat taken?"

She grinned, "You're already sitting, Mr. McCree."

"Please, Mr. McCree was my mama's favorite bartender. Call me Jesse, doc."

"Only if you call me Angela," she grinned again and he conceded with the tip of his hat.

Jesse looked at her paperwork curiously, fussing over the fact that all she was eating was an apple. She found that she rather admired him, though his personality far contrasted her own. He was sunshine and wits while she was cold and quiet at times. She knew from his medical records that he was the same age as her, possibly a reason for his eagerness to get to know her. From what she could tell, he was being innocent enough. He didn't dare make an advance or so much as hit on her.

In the middle of trying to convince her to eat something with meat in it, Jesse noticed the other American in the room, "Hey, boss! Damn, you sure are spooky hidin' in the corner like that. I didn't even know you were here."

Reyes didn't even look up from his tablet. She noticed he wasn't eating anything, "That's my job, kid."

His dryness seemed to amuse Jesse, "Gee, I guess that's true. You watchin' baseball again?"

"Yeah."

Angela couldn't help the grin on her face. Despite whatever made him so tragic underneath, the man had a really dry sense of humor. Something she knew was rare of Americans. Jesse noticed her stifled giggle, "Look at that. I'm just tryin' to be a conversationalist and you're giving me one-words. How rude. And you're laughing," he feigned hurt, looking at her accusingly.

She couldn't help it, she really couldn't. Moving to Gibraltar, packing her life away, and writing all these proposals within the span of a few days had fried her nerves and her normal cold defensiveness was down. She bit her lip, but it barely stifled the full laughter she let out. At Jesse's mock pout, she only laughed more. She hadn't laughed like that in years and years.

When she was calm again, save for the occasional giggle, Jesse was giving her a dopey grin. She just barely caught Reyes's eyes as he glanced back down to his tablet uninterestedly.

"Wow, doc, didn't think you had it in you."

She smiled, far too amused to be offended that he thought her incapable of laughter, and stood from the table with her paperwork. Jesse followed her, offering to give her a proper tour around the base as best as he could remember. She took her apple with her, pleased to finally have some warmer company.

-0-

Reyes watched her leave, long forgetting the baseball rerun on the tablet. It wasn't her fault that she was interrupting his ritual of essentially hiding in the mess hall during empty-hours and watching sports to reminisce about Los Angeles. It wasn't her fault he hated Europe. The spanish wasn't even the same here.

A few days in and she was already a dramatically strange presence in the Watchpoint. He heard Jack practically wax poetic about how smart and determined she was. Ana wasn't there at the moment to keep the peace between them, so he couldn't help a snarky comment about Jack having a crush on the pretty doctor. Jack had retorted without a beat, commenting that he never said pretty . Those were Reyes's words. He scowled, knowing that Jack had him there.

He tapped off the screen, back to the classified documents he was looking over. He rolled his eyes, exasperated with himself. Overwatch was changing. When it was founded during the Omnic Crisis, nearly fifteen years ago, soldiers were the only agents needed. The UN hired the best, sparing no expense to recruit agents like himself, Jack, Ana, and Reinhardt. Engineers like Torbjorn would come soon after. During the Omnic Crisis, when their orders were simply kill-or-be-killed, it was simpler.

Now, the UN wanted a peacekeeping organization. While not against the secret projects of Blackwatch, Overwatch was meant to be saving the world at face-value. Now, they had the diplomats like Gerard, the graceful socialites like his young wife Amélie, and other agents who brought different backgrounds and personalities to the organization. Jack and Ana had argued that it made them more varied, more appealing, but his view was that it made them more vulnerable and less organized.

He would eat those words later when he brought Jesse in. The kid was an incredible shot, but he was Deadlock and far from your ideal soldier. Reyes knew that if Jack and Ana had shared the same mindset that he did, they would have never allowed Jesse to join.

Now, their head of medical research was a Swiss prodigy who stifled her giggles. He'd honestly never heard anyone laugh so freely like that in Overwatch. He didn't truly know what she knew of war and pain and violence, but those that did typically couldn't bring themselves to even smile. Reyes grimaced, not sure if he welcomed such a presence.


	2. Chapter 2

When she was presented with a beret, she figured it was a joke. She'd studied partially at a prestigious French school as a teenager after all, it was understandable some assumed she was French. Perhaps they heard her speaking to Amélie in French and didn't pick up on her accent. She had convinced herself of it until she saw the tag of who the gift was from.

Love, Ana xo

She blinked in confusion. While Ana, despite her coldness, was hardly incapable of love, she didn't think the second-in-command had held any preferences towards her.

Sure, the two women had many discussions over medical research. Angela was quite interested in seeing if she could create a liquified nanite solution for Ana's darts. The woman could actively put her research in the field, something Angela dreamed of doing but was rejected from multiple times by this point.

She pursed her lips and traced a thumb across the white cotton of the beret. On the front, a small cross and shield decal was placed. A Swiss beret, after all. Still she didn't quite understand what it meant and why Ana would give her such a thing.

In the field, Overwatch agents wore royal blues and whites. It made it easier to detect each other while still maintaining their personal preferences for combat clothing. As she was kept in a lab unless a high-level agent were to need surgery, Angela stuck to her black catsuit and lab coat. Prim and professional with nothing personal about it.

She'd meant to leave and find a mirror, see if the beret looked ridiculous or not with her lab coat, when she was stopped by Ana's presence in the doorway. The Egyptian woman was smirking, looking like she knew something Angela didn't.

Now, she liked Ana. The woman had a bleeding heart, the kind of person that loved with sharp teeth and biting words. Angela didn't know the details, but she knew the sniper was an essential factor in keeping Reyes and Jack from each others' throats. Gossip was common in the medical wing.

Ana's stare unnerved Angela, and she tried her best to keep a neutral face as the woman closed the door behind her. Despite that Angela's office had a windowed wall, it was a soundproof and nobody could hear their conversation.

"I want you on the field," before Angela could so much as speak, Ana continued, "but Jack doesn't."

"He still thinks I am made of glass," Angela stated coldly, turning to look at the beret on her desk. She would feel bad speaking this way about the Commander if she wasn't so frustrated. She'd gotten the funding she needed and was able to properly create a prototype that needed field testing after only six months in Overwatch. Yet, she was beginning to feel imprisoned in her lab. Research could only make her so happy. She needed a social life. Amélie only visited so often between her performances as a prima ballerina in Paris and Jesse was gone on missions more often than not.

Ana spoke again, "You're a precious asset to him."

"I'm a person," Angela furrowed her brows and turned back to the second-in-command, "testing this research is my burden to bear and I can't allow human error to potentially destroy my only prototype."

"I understand," Ana crossed her arms and nodded to the beret, "which is precisely why I convinced him to allow you to come on a mission."

Angela blinked, "You convinced him?"

"It's no vital mission, simply a visit to the front lines of a scuffle we're currently in in Kazakhstan that you will join to help the wounded." Angela didn't know what to do with her hands, so she tangled her fingers nervously. She was worn mentally and physically from sleep exhaustion and stress. Her emotions were unstable and she did her best not to absolutely break down in her office. She grimaced and nodded, allowing Ana to give her a smirk, "Berets look good, trust me I know."

Angela laughed incredulously, biting her lip to stifle her smile as she felt her eyes brim with tears. In her hands, she was clutching the beret with excitement.

-0-

Almaty, Kazakhstan was near a Talon base. That's as much as they had before Blackwatch joined the front lines. Many soldiers hiding behind dilapidated buildings and stone road blocks were locals defending their homes from a terrorist organization. Overwatch agents were sprinkled within, blue and white spots in the sea of gray. Reyes hopped from the hovering dropship down to the dusty ground with Jesse hot on his heels. Jesse flipped back the cloth of his serape to aim his pistol in front of him as they hopped over the barriers between the warring factions.

Blackwatch's style typically was infiltration, but the enemy already knew they were there so they opted for a direct charge. Reyes used his twin shotguns casually as he blew off the limbs and heads of Talon fighters. They reached a second set of barriers where the braver locals and many more agents stood. Reyes pressed his back against a pillar before tapping his comm into the Overwatch frequency just as Ana's voice came over the radio, "Reyes, draw the fire away from the combat medics."

Reyes and Jesse exchanged a glance, confused as to why combat medics would be so close to the gunfire. They searched to stumble upon a group of injured locals, many of them not soldiers and unarmed. They were surrounded by two Overwatch medics and a single armed agent who guarded them as they hurriedly tried to stop a woman's bleeding.

"Don't leave me here," the woman cried, clearly dying from the blood loss. Reyes cursed; they were endangering themselves and the entire group by trying to save someone who was already dead. But he wasn't their commander.

He saw Jesse jerk in surprise when his view landed just to the east of them on a figure who was struggling to help a hobbling man through the rubble. Without permission, he left Reyes's side to beeline for the figure before he could be stopped.

"Hey-" he snarled just as Jesse called out to her.

"Angela!"

The woman's head snapped up in their direction. Beneath the dirt and a bleeding lip was the head of medical research trying to walk a man whose leg was clearly broken through a warzone. She was dressed in standard combat gear and the beret on her head was so white it practically shone in the darkness. Jesse helped her get the man to the group of people, all the while staring her down. She didn't acknowledge his look.

Reyes tapped on the mic in his ear, "Ana, these medics are sitting ducks out here."

"I've got reinforcements on the way. They were with more guards but most of them were gunned down before the building collapsed with people inside," she was explaining the situation to him, but she wasn't making excuses. He tried to understand. There were too many variables to predict what would happen on the battlefield.

"These medics should be armed," he glared at the medics as they openly ignored the Blackwatch agents. Only the one agent with them had a gun. Angela was noticeable unarmed, too.

"We're not going to discuss this, just draw the fire away."

He grabbed Jesse's shoulder, turning the cowboy way from Angela as she continued working on the man's leg, "Leave her, we're drawing the fire away."

Angela finally looked up at that, eyes widened in horror, "You can't put yourself at risk like that!"

"We can and we will, doc. That's what we do."

Angela turned to the medic next to her, nodding silently before letting him take over for the local's injured leg. She stood, moving right in front of Reyes and looking him in the eyes, "Let me come with you."

He frowned at her, fingers twitching on the handles of his shotguns, "Not a chance."

"I am not afraid," his words were clear over the sounds of gunfire. Reyes saw the clarity in the blue of her irises and he knew she wasn't lying. She truly wasn't afraid.

Jesse practically snarled next to them, his rare temper snapping, "You'll endanger yourself, Angela."

Her cold blue eyes snapped to Jesse, "In the field you call me Mercy. And I've seen war for as long as I can remember. I am not afraid."

"You're needed here, doc," his voice was calm despite the strange buzzing beneath his skin. She was an anomaly. Out here, she didn't see him or Jesse as intimidating Blackwatch agents or killers. She saw people that she could help, she could protect. He couldn't recall anyone wanting to protect him since his mother died and he was suddenly filled with the strange, irrational need to take her with him, "Where we're going...we're not going to save lives."

His words seemed to deflate her indignation and her shoulders slumped slightly. It was something he would regret later, but he touched her for the first time in five and a half years by gently placing a hand on her arm. Wordlessly, she nodded, not even looking at Jesse as she turned away from them back to the patients.

When he looked at his prodigy again, Jesse was giving him a confused look. All the anger and frustration was drained from the younger man's face before he nodded and followed Reyes back into the firefight.

-0-

She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, hands focused on using her prototype staff to heal the wounded. For the most part, the nanites worked incredibly. They were a little dodgy, left a strange ozone smell on the skin, and tended to leave the skin more tender and prone to being cut again, but they were a success.

The primary objective of the Caduceus project was to create a healing beam. As per her negotiations with the UN, its secondary objective was to boost damage dealt by physical and ballistic attacks. She had yet to begin the secondary part, focusing on the help more than the hurt.

Unfortunately, the mission at Almaty was a mess. Jack was angry, Reyes was angry, Gerard was angry, and Ana was being questioned. In the end, the sniper was right. They couldn't have predicted the building would collapse and all the armed guards with the combat medics would have been taken down so quickly.

Gerard was flown to Gibraltar by the UN to deal with issues regarding combat medics. Angela stood in her office, watching through the window as he passed by without glancing at her. Slowly trailing after, Amélie appeared as well. Only she stopped, flashing a red-lipped smile at Angela before tapping on the door.

Angela opened it and was immediately enveloped in a hug from the lithe ballerina. Amélie placed cool hands on the sides of her face, looking her over, "I'm so glad you are alright, cherie ."

The doctor smiled, nodding, "It was harrowing, but I would rather be out there."

"I know you would, but without a gun? Without something to protect you?"

Angela swallowed, "I have guards who protect me."

"Guards who were all killed, leaving you stranded until Reyes arrived," Amélie walked around Angela to approach her desk. She crossed her toned arms, leaning a hip against the wood furniture.

"So you're going to support the arming of combat medics?" Angela wasn't surprised, but the idea was not a welcome one. To her or any other medics in Overwatch.

"I do. I believe if you can't handle a gun you shouldn't be out there."

Angela squeezed the bridge of her nose, breathing quietly in the silence until finally she spoke, "I have to be out there, Amélie. I spent a portion of my doctorate working in Kuwait. My methods and my nanites can't be tested in any better way except on the battlefield."

Amélie placed her hands on Angela shoulders, reminding the doctor of how Reyes touched her. His hands were so warm and so, so much larger. She could almost feel the gun callouses through the fabric of her sleeves. She blinked the thought away as Amélie spoke, "I believe in you. Jack and Gerard saw the reports and they saw how many you saved with your nanites. What you did by getting on the field has achieved more for your research than sitting in a lab ever will. However, you must be prepared for the hurt. You must."

Angela finally nodded after watching the French woman's intense stare. She bit her lip, feeling so young despite Amélie being four years her junior. Amélie broke away from her, gripping her hand lightly. She left Angela's office to join her husband and an hour later Jesse knocked on her door.

Despite only six months in Overwatch, Jesse was the closest friend she had. As she saw from his anger on the battlefield, he was fiercely protective. She ignored him in the moment, angry and determined, but now she wanted to understand.

He took off his hat, tossing it on her desk before looking at her strangely, "You and Reyes know each other or somethin'?"

Her eyebrows raised in surprise, offput by the question, "No more than I know Commander Morrison. Why do you ask?"

Jesse deflected her question, "Nothin'. You gonna go back out there?"

She bristled, "Jesse, please understand that I have to-"

"I know you do," he seemed to be thinking over something, "I saw the way you told Reyes you weren't afraid. I know you have to be out there helpin' people. At least let me teach you how to shoot."

She rubbed her eyes, "That's what it's going to take isn't it?"

"You afraid of the idea?"

"I'm not afraid of guns. I'm Swiss. We have a very strong and active gun culture, especially after the Omnic Crisis. It is the killing I am not willing to do."

"But would you be able?"

She thought about her time in Kuwait and living as a child without parents during the Omnic Crisis. She thought about her father's work as a soldier keeping her army nurse mother alive, "Yes, I would be able."

"Let me teach you how to use them for defense. These guys at Overwatch that they'll want you learnin' from don't understand self-defence. They're going to train those combat medics to be killers."

Angela sighed shakily, nodding once in defeat. If they were going to strap a weapon to her, she'd rather learn from someone who has had to defend himself rather than from a military organization.

She glanced towards the documents on her desk, the huge binder full of plans on expanding and improving her Caduceus into a full staff with healing and damage support. It lay on top of a newer set of plans, the rough outlines of a full suit she would eventually name the Valkyrie.

She clenched her fists tightly, remembering the look Reyes gave her on the battlefield when he touched her arm. He and Jesse were the only ones who understood what she was about to do. She wasn't Blackwatch, but he knew the UN wouldn't like her new proposals. And after she showed them just how capable she was going to be on the field, she knew the UN would give her all the power and funding she would ask for.

-0-

2061: Three years later.

She felt like she was going to a wedding. Only she was the bride and the dress to be presented was her Valkyrie suit. Amélie got the privelage of seeing it first, watching in awe as the blue-tipped wings lit up. It covered her combat medic armor and went along with Overwatch's whites and blues. The shining silver of her wings matched the metal of her blaster and her prized Caduceus staff. The staff had already been in practice for years.

Each head Overwatch agent had experienced it at least once. Even Blackwatch, when her mission in had Ukraine overlapped theirs. Jesse had been pleasantly shocked at the damage booster, whooping in victory as he popped off a shot that took down a whole fleet of enemies in one go. Long numb to the sight of death, Angela had simply nodded and tried to be happy for him. To him, his work was saving lives. They chose not to argue the point.

The last time she used it on Blackwatch was Reyes, who was struggling to take down a large omnic the size of a truck. It was reprogrammed by Talon against its will to essentially work as a giant turret. When he got shot in the chest by a bullet, Angela was at his side, scrambling over rubble on foot. The aching in her ankles was something her Valkyrie suit would help prevent as well.

She pressed her hand to the wound, grabbing Reyes's attention as he snarled. He was out for blood and wanted to move, but she wouldn't let him until the wound was healed. With strong and gentle hands, she grabbed Reyes's shoulders and looked him in the eye until he calmed down.

He was watching her with an eerie quietness, silent except for the gunfire of the turret and the yelling of the soldiers around them, her free hand was still on his chest, over the bleeding wound, as she activated her staff.

The healing beam highlighted their faces in the dim lighting. When it cut off abruptly with a snap, they were in the darkness again. She suddenly felt how close he was to her, leaning back against the steel wall as she pressed towards him. They were aiming for secrecy, but the result was them pressed tightly like two lovers.

She nearly flinched at her own wandering thoughts, suddenly well aware of his breathing and how he hadn't moved a muscle. She could barely tell, but she chalked up his eyes on her lips as her imagination.

She breathed quietly in the dark, feeling him tense as her hand moved from his healed wound to the back of his neck. The hood of his jacket was down. His hair was long and soft and still combed back out of his face. She broke the silence, "Hold still, Commander."

Suddenly she flipped the switch and the staff's boosting beam ignited. The light was now blue, illuminating the color of her uniform. Reyes jerked, but kept stiller than when she usually boosted people.

With a gentleness neither of them expected, she backed away from him. He picked up his twin shotguns, looking more on-edge than usual for the stoic Blackwatch commander. His words were raspy and uncertain, "I know you got that piece now, but stay out of the fire, doc."

Her fingers twitched with a strange want when he left, able to take down the turret with ease now than he was doing twice the damage. She had a bad feeling that she was already too close to the flames.


	3. Chapter 3

It was time to present the Valkyrie to Jack. Angela finished brushing off the skirt of her uniform and straightened her hat. Amélie gushed, "You look so beautiful."

Angela smiled sheepishly, "Jack gave me the callsign Mercy. He wanted me to be a guardian angel on the battlefield. I simply went with his motif. However, it is more than its appearance. This will save lives, if not just my own."

"You can do much more from the skies," Amélie smiled before opening the door for Angela to enter the training room. It was here that she lab tested her Caduceus and here that Jesse taught her how to fight and shoot. Now she was here in front of Jack and the other leaders to present her biggest project in the four years she was with Overwatch.

Nanite research she'd done had already been implemented in every aspect of Overwatch from guns to healing packs to Ana's darts. This would be her most ambitious project because she was a part of it. The cybernetics she'd installed into her spine were the only thing able to properly power the Valkyrie and it wasn't the type of research that could be easily implemented or recreated. From her records on the field over the years, whether it was saving lives or (on rare occasion) taking them to protect others, she had already proved herself above and beyond every other combat medic in Overwatch. And Blackwatch, for that matter.

The lights in the training lab turned on with a buzz as she entered the field. She chose not to look at Jack and the others as they watched through the observation window. She knew Ana would be pleased she wore the beret with it.

The simulation was strong, but she was stronger. She used her blaster to off each enemy in a show of offense. When it was time for defence, her wings spread and lit up. She spared a glance at Jack and the others, seeing a group of stunned faces as she lifted off the ground, dodging a sea of bullets that chased her around. When the simulation Overwatch agents came up, she boosted them. When injured friendlies came up, she healed them. She was sweating and panting by the end of it, but she'd passed Overwatch's most difficult simulation while in the suit with flying colors.

The fluorescent lab lights came back on after a moment and she glanced up at the observation deck to see a group of stunned faces. Jack's face was pale with...fear? Confusion ? She didn't know. She continued watching them, beads of sweat running down her face. After a moment of silence, one of the officials with Jack nodded, "I want this in the field yesterday." Gerard and Ana, who stood to the side of the crowd, both looked mildly surprised.

Angela focused on his use of the word this . This meant her suit, not her with it. It meant mass production. She spoke, surprised at her own voice's unwavering, "I'm afraid it's not to be recreated. The Valkyrie is bonded to the cybernetic implants in my spine. Nobody else may use it."

The UN member frowned, "You experimented on yourself."

"I do not aim to put others through what I wouldn't do."

"Then your desire is to market the Valkyrie suit."

"No," she said with a finality, "I am not here to give you a weaponized suit. I am here to present myself , a weaponized combat medic. Both capable of research and fighting." Her words sounded hollow, unlike her, and the look on Jack's face said he knew she was reciting a speech. He wasn't the only agent capable of giving the UN members what they wanted to hear.

The one in the blue suit placed a hand on his chin, "You would have us present you to the world as some sort of advanced combat medic. I don't disagree with the notion, so long as it is clear you are a prototype. A phase one we can talk about furthering in the future." She didn't know this man, but he was cutting her a deal. They wouldn't take her project to the engineers so long as she continued testing and she had bargaining rights for how they would use it in the future. It wasn't what she wanted, but it was enough for now.

She nodded, removing the beret to wipe her brow, and the wings slowly began to shut off. Her spine slightly ached with the nanites, but the cybernetics held up well. She was grateful they were installed correctly and that her and Torbjorn's work was not in vain. She hated to think of the alternative where her spine could be damaged. The impressed look on the UN representatives' faces was worth the risk.

-0-

Blackwatch couldn't do much normally. No UN members aside from Gérard would even acknowledge them, let alone walk around the base with them. Reyes was dragged down to the engineer's observation window near the floor level by Jesse to watch Angela's test. Nervous energy radiated from the cowboy and he was uncharacteristically quiet. Sometime during the demonstration, Amélie joined them to watch. She was prim and polite, but her smile was filled with pride as Angela finished. She turned to Jesse as he watched, jaw clenched, "You taught her well, Monsieur McCree."

Jesse laughed nervously, "Just glad it went over well with the suits, ma'am."

Amélie didn't comment on that, despite that she was married to one of the suits . Gérard hadn't spoken at all from his place next to Jack, instead quietly observing with a neutral expression. He gave a quick nod to Jack and Reyes knew that meant he was more than willing to vouch for Angela in the field. Gerard was an odd man, but he had his quirks and Reyes had known him almost two decades; he could read every twitch of the serious Frenchman's face.

In the quiet, as the lab lights returned to normal and Angela finished her display to leave the room, Jesse suddenly turned to Reyes, "What'd you think, Reyes?"

He didn't know when he went from 'boss' to 'Reyes'. Maybe when he stopped having things to teach Jesse. The kid had grown up, "It's something."

Amélie turned to him, "It is beautiful, no? She will save lives."

Jesse watched for his expression a little too intensely. For the past few years, Jesse had been attempting to subtly enter Angela into their conversations. Reyes snorted, his face giving away nothing, "Beautiful isn't going to do anything out in the field. She needs to be tested against more than just robots and holograms."

He knew Amélie could be cunning like her husband. But the implication in her words wasn't subtle, "You willing to test her out , Reyes?"

Jesse piped in with a graceful "Uh-" and Reyes didn't get a chance to even react when the door opened and Angela came through.

Forgetting her teasing, Amelie approached to place a hand on Angela's shoulder, "How do you feel?"

"Everything is riding on this," Angela looked a little more defeated than she did in front of Jack and the UN.

Amélie smiled gently as she spoke, "Reyes wants to test you on the field."

Jesse piped in, "I don't think he-"

But Reyes cut him off, surprising the whole room, "I'll ask Morrison when he's done playing diplomat."

Angela raised her eyebrows. Even Amélie looked surprised. Reyes kept a stern expression and held his breath until Angela grinned, "Of course Commander."

-0-

Later, Jesse sat perched on a bench in the ballistics room while Reyes took apart and cleaned one of his shotguns. He flipped a rag across his shoulder and focused on the metal in his hands while Jesse stared out the hologram window overlooking a Spanish beach, "Hey, Reyes?"

"Hm?"

"You never," he swallowed, looking like he was choking on the words, "you never train Overwatch agents."

Reyes set down his screwdriver, "I used to."

"You haven't trained an Overwatch agent in years," his tone was stronger, slightly accusing.

He dropped the screwdriver on the desk, looking up at the cowboy, "Spit it out, kid."

He hadn't called him that in years. Jesse seemed unphased but shot him a small glare, "Forget it, Reyes. Never mind."

"Don't bring up things you're not willing to share with the class," he snarled, picking up his tools again to work on the shotgun. He heard Jesse's spurs clink as his prodigy left the room.

-0-

To say Jack and Gerard were surprised by his request was an understatement. Jack stared at him in suspicion, hackles raised, "Reyes if you think our head of medical research-"

"I'm not recruiting her. You've seen me field train."

"No, you're absolutely not. And you haven't trained anyone outside of Blackwatch in twenty years."

"Fourteen, to be precise," Gerard piped in, hands folded on his crossed legs as he sat in the chair by Jack's desk. Jack was standing, watching Reyes suspiciously.

"She passed those simulations with flying colors. But the hardest lab simulations are easy compared to the real thing. I'm better at drawing fire and stealth."

"Stealth with shotguns," Gérard quipped, standing to face Reyes directly, "I think you'd be the best choice to test her."

Jack whirled on his old friend, "Why Blackwatch? Why not Ana or Reinhardt? We don't need her and Blackwatch interacting."

Reyes scoffed, "By all means, say how you really feel, Jack."

That seemed to deflate Morrison a little, "Your morals don't align. That's all I'm trying to say, Reyes. You can't argue that point."

"He cannot. That's precisely why he should test her. She's more than capable physically and as a doctor, but she needs to be able to hold up in the face of war. And Reyes can take her right to the fire." Gérard seemed to have made up his mind.

Jack sighed, stress visibly weighing on his shoulders. Reyes observed him. Back in America, they were both military men who voluntarily joined the SEP. Reyes was his superior at the time, having taken (and survived) the program years before Jack. Yet...Reyes could see the silver beginning to blend in Jack's blonde hair, the wrinkles under his eyes. Was it really stress or was this age? If Jack was beginning to be pressed by age despite the SEP, what did that mean for Reyes?

For not the first time, Reyes began to become consumed by the notion that he wasn't as strong, fast, or able as he used to be. The thought clenched something angry and violent in his chest. His mood soured even more, despite the fact that Gerard actually took his side for once.

Ana entered the room, coming upon the scene of the leaders glaring at each other in silence. Reyes didn't know how long she was in the doorway, but she must have heard enough, "I agree with Gerard, Jack. We need to test her mental limits if we are going to have her out there testing nanite technology. If she isn't ready then there's no prospect of her making the world ready."

Jack relaxed a little, always had when Ana was involved, "Alright. Reyes," he warned, "don't leave her stranded out there."

"No soldier left behind, Jack. I got her back."

"Of course you do," Ana's eyes crinkled in amusement and Reyes stalked off before he was tempted to question it in front of Jack and Gerard.

-0-

Jesse got separated from them. He was chasing down a sniper who managed to graze Angela as she was patching up a Blackwatch agent. Despite her flinch, she hardly reacted to the shot initially. She barely seemed to notice until Jesse commented that her arm was bleeding.

She waved him off, unphased, "It's a scratch, I'm not worried."

"It's a graze. Beyond a scratch, doc," Reyes approached, panting as he checked his shotguns.

Jesse perked up, spotting the sniper with his sharp eyes, "Got eyes on him."

"Take him down, Jesse," Reyes said almost proudly as the cowboy stalked off to circle around and surprise the sniper.

He was evaluating Angela as she worked. She was mentally sound, passing that test but he wasn't surprised. When it came down to her using her Valkyrie to dodge sprays of bullets and boosting his damage, she passed as well. Her healing was world-famous; not even worth wasting the time to test. They already knew she was good.

It was her rationale that was put to the test here. Her breath hitched slightly as she used triage to determine who to save first. She hesitated slightly when it came down to her shooting someone. Reyes decided he would take it to the grave that he was moving a bit faster to just shoot them himself.

She finished with the agents who needed patching up and managed to find an alcove in a wall, where she was away from the gunfire but not the front lines. Reyes found her as she patched up her arm, using traditional methods rather than her staff.

He watched her questioningly and she looked up, "The nanites in my spine will do most of the long-term work. For now I simply need to stop the bleeding."

He hated that she could read his mind before he even spoke. He really hated that she could tell what he was going to say before he said it. Nobody could do that.

They both looked up at the sounds of a cry, "Help me, please, help!" The voice was coming down a dark alleyway, where Reyes could barely see a figure hunched over. He eyed it suspiciously.

She was completely taken back when he grabbed her as she made to dash towards the victim. His hands were rough on her arms and he was being careful not to hurt her. Seeing the desperation and shock in her eyes, he spoke, "Mercy, do you trust me?"

She blinked away the shock, eyes lightening as she came to her senses, "I...I do not know," she answered honestly.

Fair enough. He stared her right in the eyes, "Do you trust me in the field?"

"Yes," she replied immediately. He saw her eyes dart to where the voice was coming from. He was well aware, too aware, of how their bodies were touching. How he was gripping her tightly enough to bruise but he was desperate to keep her from running off.

"Stay right here."

"Commander, they're in need!" She said a little too loudly.

He moved closer, caging her like a animal on the hunt. Only he wanted to prevent her from harm, "It's a trap."

Her eyes widened, still unsure, but she nodded once and he quickly let her go. If she had anything to say about how he uncharacteristically manhandled her, she didn't say it. He put a finger to his lips, effectively silencing her as he snuck around the side of the building.

He came upon the figure, hunched over with a pistol hidden beneath his chest. He whimpered, but Reyes knew what pain really sounded like. He knew what it sounded like when men were really begging for help. With a swift movement of his arm, the man was faced with his shotgun, "Die."

The man looked up as he spoke his quiet mantra, a habit he picked up and used with each kill. A habit he effectively kept Jesse or anyone else from hearing. The man tried to speak but his words were soon drowned out.

The spray of gore and brains on the back alley wall wasn't an unfamiliar sight. Reyes turned from the corpse, unbothered that he removed a life from this world. Men who tricked combat medics into getting shot weren't worth more than ants.

He arrived back at the alcove. The killing had been close enough for her to hear, but she obeyed his command and stayed put, cutting off her line of vision. He saw her hands were shaking and, for some stupid reason, opened his mouth, "You know what I do, doc."

He didn't understand why he felt the need to defend himself. But it turned out he didn't have to. "It's not that, Reyes."

No 'Commander'. No proper title usage despite her constant insistence to do so. He was just Reyes. He wondered why this kill was the one to do it.

The lights of her wings flickered slightly, turning on with a soft hum. He took it as a reason to go, but she didn't follow when he moved. She was staring at the wall still, blue eyes flickering between the blood on his chestplate and the clean stone walls. He turned to her after giving a moment, approaching her space to snap her out of it, "Mercy if you're gonna lose it on me-"

She reached out and touched his chestplate, gloved fingers skating across the dulled gunmetal. Her fingers came back wet with blood, only instead of recoiling like he'd expected, she moved closer, breathing shakily. She trembled as she pressed her face to his chest where the blood hadn't splattered and he stupidly froze, unable to speak or move.

Affection wasn't...he didn't know what to do with that. Was this affection? Why was she touching him? What in the hell was she doing? His mind screamed and panicked but his body was frozen, like she'd consumed every nerve in his body.

Finally she spoke, "They told me in Kuwait that I would die saving people. Only it was a criticism. My parents died trying to save people in a war zone. People that weren't hurt in the first place."

He got what she was trying to say, only he hadn't moved at all. Her face on his armor couldn't be comfortable, but her shoulders relaxed like it was greater than the softest pillow. Something clarified in her judgement and she backed away, a little wide eyed and disoriented, "I am not losing it, Commander Reyes. I was just reminded of-"

"Just Reyes," he cleared his throat, "I'm not your commander." What was he trying to say? What was he implying? Whatever it was, she seemed to flush slightly.

"This is unlike me. I fear I've lost too much blood."

"Yeah," if she was going to blame it on blood loss he wasn't going to fight it.

She looked at him for a moment, nearly a decade later than the first time she'd looked at him like that. Initially she was a bright doctor who dulled upon seeing him. Now the light in her eyes was gone and they matched.

She was reading him again, making his nerves stand on end. When he cleared his throat, she blinked back into reality. She looked at him like something just occurred to her. Her expression quickly turned from confusion to fear to...something else. He couldn't tell what was going on.

When he opened his mouth to probably completely lose his shit and tell her to stop reading him, Jesse interrupted them.

"Holy hell, there you are. Sniper's down we-" he seemed to finally have read the proverbial room because he noticed the thick tension between Angela and Reyes.

He got that strange look again, the one he got whenever he tried to talk to Reyes about her. Like he was angry and confused and a little bit surprised. Angela seemed to notice she was barely standing two feet away from him and stepped back, her wings spreading.

"I'll meet you at the dropship. I've patients to attend to," her voice sounded far off, slightly dazed. With a small push, she lifted off the ground to the rooftops. The Valkyrie made the motion quiet and graceful, like a bird taking off.

Reyes frowned, glaring at the wall then at Jesse, "What?"

"You keep saying you don't know each other."

"We don't."

"Right," Jesse dropped it. Reyes wondered if the cowboy was jealous. If he had feelings for Angela and finding them in weird, compromising positions was only fueling the fire.

He turned away, "Whatever you're thinking, stop thinking it. We have things to do."

Jesse tipped his hat, "Ain't thinking anything at all, Reyes. Just wonderin' but you don't like that either. You lead, I'll follow."

He was being snarky and Reyes would make him do double drills for it later.

-0-

When Jesse found her after the mission debriefing was all done and she was unanimously approved by the UN and Reyes to work full time in the field if she wished, he ended up just being straight with her.

"Reyes is like a father to me, alright? He's a good man."

She grimaced, knowing she and Jesse were the same age. But Jesse didn't seem to be hung up on the age difference. Stubbornly, she played cold, "What are you trying to say, Jesse?"

"I'm saying not all good men in the world are what they seem. He's got...he's got some real baggage. You're going to get hurt. And it'll probably kill him to do that to you."

She blinked away her frustration, trying to keep her warring feelings at bay, "He's the Blackwatch Commander to me. That's all I need to know."

"But that ain't what you want to know."

She whirled on him, "Get out, Jesse."

He stared her down, "I'll leave when you're honest with yourself, Angela."

"I can barely decipher this mess to myself let alone to you. I don't- I haven't-" she cut herself off, frustrated, and Jesse seemed to grow sad at that.

"You don't even know what you're feelin' do you?"

"Affection I suppose? Mostly frustration at you," she crossed her arms, serious despite the humor of her words.

"Affection don't make you look at men like that, Angela."

"Jesse, what you're implying-"

"What you and I have is great. Ain't ever had a friend like you before. I'm not jealous. I like us just fine how we are. And I ain't gonna put you on blast. Just letting you know that when you ever figure out the mess going on in your head about him, just think before you make any calls. He pulled me out of Deadlock despite shooting him in the chest and made me part of what I am, but he's not normally good at that. The thing about Reyes is that he's best at hurting people, even when he doesn't want to."

She wrung her fingers together, unsure how to approach Jesse's monologue. Jesse seemed to get the idea and tipped his hat at her before promptly leaving.

She sighed shakily and glanced at the picture of her parents on her desk. If her father had stopped her mother like Reyes had stopped her...no, she wouldn't think like that.

Irrational, illogical, unimportant like these stormy feelings inside her. What did she see in Reyes? Storms under irises, fire under skin cells, a lifetime of pain and tragedy. A hurt that she wanted to heal.

What did she want to see in Reyes? More, she wanted to see more. She grimaced, turning back to her work.

For two years her mind would highlight the times she saw Blackwatch. Be those memories a night at a local pub with Jesse or close calls in the battlefield as she healed agents dressed in red and black. The world didn't know about Blackwatch, but her world seemed to be consumed by the organization.

With Reyes, it was subtle touches and soft words. He seemed to become both high-strung and calm at the same time around her. She didn't know what he wanted and he certainly wasn't going to say anything.

The first time he conceded at her distaste for 'doc' and called her 'Angela' her heart sang at hearing her name in his voice. The implication of those feelings only made her confusion worse. Jack picked up on the growing tension, wisely not commenting but clearly unhappy.

Tensions between Angela and Reyes grew as did tensions between Blackwatch and Overwatch. She could only sit on the sidelines as she watched her fellow agents slowly begin to distrust each other.

Amélie prodded her once, finally cutting into her with words like knives, "We don't choose who we love."

"There is always a choice," she replied, too tired and stressed to even bother with denial.

"Mon cherie, there is no such thing as choice."

Two years from the day she felt an unsteady, unwelcome affection for Reyes blossom in her chest, a geneticist would join Blackwatch and Jesse would barge into her medical wing with a half-dead Japanese heir. Things would never be the same after that.


	4. Chapter 4

2063: Two years later.

Jesse was screaming. She couldn't tell what he was saying, what with the sharp ringing in her ears, but she could tell from the shock and pain in his eyes that he was screaming.

Around them, trauma nurses scrambled around the...body. She didn't know what to refer to him as. Jesse was covered in the young man's blood, some of his own mixing in with it. She would have to check up on his wounds later.

For now, she brushed past a nurse who was attempting to hook an IV into the body, scolding her not to attempt fluids until she gave her approval. She needed to take note of his condition. His arm looked severely broken, as if it had been crushed under immense pressure. His legs met the same fate. His torso remained intact along with his head and neck, only the jaw was broken and he was covered in bleeding cuts and bruises. He looked like he'd been hit by a train, but the look in Jesse's eyes said this was something much worse.

She prepped for surgery along with another doctor and a group of nurses. They sanitized as best as possible with the little time they had.

He would flat-line three times that night, breathing like he was choking each time he came back to life. She would end up having to remove the crushed arm and legs, taking them at the upper thighs and shoulder.

By the time she was done with his third surgery, nearly 14 hours had passed. Two nurses had to switch out from exhaustion or nausea. She was feeling a little sick herself from only a diet of water. Still she continued. Luckily for the man, her hospital was well-prepared for an immense level of trauma.

Angela removed her mask and bloody gloves, tossing them to be sanitized with her goggles. Her forehead and hair was damp with sweat and her scrubs smelled metallic with blood.

Jesse met her at the door and she had to physically escort him away from the surgery room. He didn't bother to protest when she pushed him towards an examination room so she could look at his broken arm. It seemed to suffer a similar crushing injury, only very minor compared to the ones on...

"Who is he?" She prodded at the tender flesh of Jesse's forearm gently.

He winced, "Genji Shimada."

Her eyes snapped up to his face, looking for hints of a lie and finding none, "Why is a Shimada in my medical wing?"

Jesse sighed, exhausted. He wasn't covered in Genji's blood anymore, having showered it off hours ago. She diagnosed the arm as a fracture and wrapped it tightly with bindings. A shot of nanites and it would heal properly in a few days.

The pair looked up to see Gabriel Reyes in the doorway, a somber expression on his face. He looked at Angela with a peaked curiosity, "What are you doing in here?"

She straightened and moved past him to close the door, "I just finished a 14-hour surgery on Genji Shimada. I have a right to know what's going on."

Reyes glanced towards Jesse, who was nursing his arm, "It's Blackwatch business."

"Then you should have taken him to Blackwatch."

"Blackwatch doesn't have a doctor," Reyes sighed.

"What he means is that Blackwatch doesn't have you," Jesse piped in, causing Reyes to level him with a glare, "You're the only one that could have saved him."

She glanced between the two men, brows furrowed, "Since when does Blackwatch save people?" Years ago, Jesse might have protested her words. But like Reyes he grew to fully accept the nature of Blackwatch and what they do.

Reyes answered her, "He's more useful alive than dead."

Knowing that the Shimada clan were an organization of their own, Angela deduced what he was saying, "You saved him to use him against his family?"

The words clearly cut into Reyes, like mentioning families always did, and he glared, "His family is the one that did this to him."

"He'll get a choice, Angela. He can join us against the people that turned on him or he can serve as an enemy informant kept in a cell for his crimes. He's an assassin. Ain't exactly an angel, himself," Jesse sighed. Reyes looked at Jesse, indicating that the cowboy had said too much.

Still, Angela pushed her trembling hands into her coat pockets, "A life is a life. I'll save him but I won't turn him into your weapon." She looked between them once more, not knowing what to think. Blackwatch changed them. Or perhaps Reyes was always this way.

She left the examination room, guilt echoing in her chest as she headed for her room. Live as an assassin against your family or live limbless as a prisoner for the rest of your days. She remembered Amelie's words: there is no such thing as choice.

-0-

Perhaps that he hated her was too strong. He was smart, spoke formally, and kept his temper in check. She watched him carefully, looking for any sign that he was hiding his pain, "Mr. Shimada, it is crucial that you read every line in this document so you understand what you are agreeing to."

"What is there to understand, Dr. Ziegler?" He spat, not looking directly at her, "I will never walk again unless I am to agree to your cybernetics."

"Not-" she cleared her throat to keep the shaky tone at bay, "Not mine."

"Blackwatch. Commander Reyes explained their purpose, but he said nothing the Shimada Clan does not already know. I am to kill my own family and in exchange they will give me the power I need to do so."

Angela frowned, "I will make sure you take to them if you agree. I will not allow you to be in pain."

"It makes no difference. There will always be pain inside of me. Tell the Commander I am ready. I do not need persuasion into killing them. Make me a monster, I do not care."

She watched sullenly as he signed off the paperwork with his remaining arm. It wasn't his dominant one and the signature was messy. She grimaced, taking a breath as she left the room and Genji to his thoughts.

Jack was waiting outside, looking stern and tired. She gave him a small nod and he returned it, "He made the right call."

"He wasn't given a choice," she replied bitterly, handing the paperwork numbly to Jack, "He's going to be my patient."

"Angela...you're head of medical research. You don't have patients."

She faced him head on, "He's going to be my patient." Her messy ponytail swinging behind her, she turned away from the Commander and searched for the nearest exit.

The 'exit' in Watchpoint: Gibraltar wasn't really anywhere. You could either go out the main entrance, where you would be questioned and heavily watched while in Gibraltar, or you could find the helipad on the roof.

She climbed the steps to the helipad, sitting safely away from the landing zone as she breathed fresh air for the first time in a while. After a quiet moment to herself, she was greeted by a team of engineers waiting for a dropship to come retrieve them. For what, Angela didn't know. She rubbed her face with both hands, begging her own mind to calm down.

She was uncharacteristically angry, seeing a person, a living, breathing, person completely mentally broken that he would agree to help Blackwatch hunt down his own family. She clutched her coat tighter, chilled by the wind.

She distinctly smelled cigar smoke and looked up to see Jesse McCree making her entire mood worse. She grimaced, waving her hand in front of her face, "How long were you standing there?"

"Needed a little courage to approach you when you're upset like this, doc," he grinned, but there was no light in it. He put out the cigar, stashing it for later in his belt pouch.

She stared, "I don't know whether to be angrier at your habits or you following me."

"I'm your friend," he groaned and popped his shoulder as he sat down next to Angela on the concrete. They watched the sun beginning to set over the ocean, "Whether you want that or not."

"Of course I want that!" she protested sourly.

"Even when I'm Blackwatch?"

She furrowed her brows at him, moving to speak when Jesse perked up. His communicator was ringing and he answered it. Reyes's voice came on in his earpiece, loud enough for Angela to hear:

"Where the hell are you?"

"On the rooftop."

"Ah, I'll meet you in ten. We have something to-"

"Er, not a good idea, boss," Jesse's eyes glanced to Angela, who looked away somberly.

Reyes's voice lowered a level, "Why the hell not?"

"I'll meet you downstairs," Jesse quickly replied before scrambling to his feet. From the paleness of his face, Angela could tell he'd hung up on Reyes. She turned away, unwilling to continue any conversation with Jesse.

"Go, Jesse."

"Ain't got no choice, now. Reyes is gonna be suspicious."

"Let him be. He's the one with the secrets," she didn't mean to sound so bitter, but it seems her normal cold demeanor just wasn't working today. It was true, though, she knew by Jesse's silence. Reyes, while always soft and quiet when it was just the two of them, was hiding something from her. Something big. And that reason, among a few others, was why she never bothered to actually...close the distance.

She glared out at the setting sun, wind brushing her hair into her eyes. It was hopeless to act on her feelings, with Reyes or Genji or anyone. No matter what she wanted, Overwatch and Blackwatch seemed to not care for her opinions in their plans.

-0-

A few weeks later, Reyes stood with his arms crossed in front of the observation window to the surgical room. Jesse stood beside him, still hunched with sore muscles. Reyes had drilled him to exhaustion for every day since Jesse hung up on him. He still wasn't quite forgiven, but Reyes would discover later that Angela was involved. He hadn't had a chance to speak with her privately.

Speaking of the doctor, he and Jesse were watching her as she monitored Genji's vitals during the attachments. Torbjorn and his team of engineers had worked on the design and creation of the limbs, jaw, weapons, and chest bindings full-time. Reyes stood with his arms crossed and gripped his biceps each time Genji's body jerked in protest of the fittings.

With each jolt, Angela would stand and move close to Genji's face, attempting to calm him down. He was numbed with sedatives, but he needed to be conscious for the process. He looked up at her with frightened eyes, unable to speak from the drugs. He looked so young and helpless with Angela's hands on his shoulders. She felt his pulse, nodding to Torbjorn to continue.

He saw the tension build in the faces of Angela and Torbjorn. A project like this had never been taken on by either of them, or Overwatch for that matter. Reyes glanced to his side, where Jack stood.

When the fittings were finished and they were able to give Genji anaesthesia to let him heal and sleep, Jack turned to Reyes with an accusatory stare, "Why are you here?"

"This is an Overwatch project, but he's going to be my agent. I need to see his pain tolerance."

"You would have known it was high from the first attachment, but you've been here for all of them. Don't feed me that bullshit."

"Watch yourself, Morrison."

"Keep away, Gabriel."

Reyes stared him down. Jack hadn't called him that in years. Longer than he could remember, "You can't hide Blackwatch from things that involve Blackwatch."

"You're not here for Blackwatch. I won't repeat myself, keep away," Jack turned to where Angela and Torbjorn were exiting the operation room. Behind them, the engineers and nurses were rolling Genji's gurney down the hallway to a private room. He would be healing for a week or two with Angela's nanite shots.

Jack spoke quietly with Torbjorn, who listed off information for him to relay to the UN. It seems they were just as approving of Genji's addition to Blackwatch as Reyes was. But, he saw from the look in Angela's eyes that she wasn't.

Ignoring Jack's implied orders completely, Reyes approached Angela despite Jesse trying to stop him. He paid no attention to Jack's glare when he stepped up to the tired doctor, "Come with me."

"That an order, Commander?"

"Just...come on, Angela," the strain in his voice as he held his temper at bay and the use of her name convinced her to follow him. If Jack had told her to stay away from him, she didn't listen either.

She went ahead and asked him when they were in his office. She'd been surprised he was bringing her into the Blackwatch wing, having never been there before. He knew this was the only place Jack and Jesse wouldn't harass them so he could say what needed to be said. He turned to her and her eyes flicked from the smooth, bare-bones furniture to him, "Jack told you to stay away from me, didn't he?"

"Yeah."

She grew upset, the coldness in her face dropping, "I wish all of you would just stay away."

He knew her better than that, "No, you don't."

She scoffed, "What do you want, Reyes?"

You, his completely insane mind replied, but the words didn't come to his lips. He swallowed, frowning down at her, "I need you to look at the big picture here."

"Genji's just a detail in the big picture?"

"He made his choice."

"That wasn't a choice and don't insult me by suggesting otherwise. What I did…" she looked at her hands in slight horror, "he's never going to have a normal life. And he's in so much pain. When we attached the limbs, he looked at me like victims on the battlefield do. But...I couldn't stop the pain. He looked at me for help and I couldn't help him."

Her rambling left her trembling, like she was going into shock. In that moment, he knew what she needed. What she wouldn't ask for and in normal circumstances he would never give, "Hey…" He placed his hands on her biceps, running his thumbs along her sleeves slightly.

She trembled more, beginning to break down. He saw her attempting to hide her face, "Commander, I'm-"

"Stop," with a swift, uncomfortable movement, he pulled her closer until she was pressed against him, "stop, Angela." He nearly jumped when she clung to him in return, like this was all she wanted. He swallowed thickly, feeling her pressed against him like this. It wasn't...welcome. Or unwelcome, really. It just was something he couldn't consider, didn't have time to consider. Yet...he was comforting her when he never comforted even the most frightened child in the battlefield. He wasn't made for comforting.

Angela seemed to calm and realized the position they were in. She went rigid, nervous suddenly as she quickly let go of him like he burned, "Reyes, I'm sorry-"

"Don't say anything, doc," he replied distantly, looking away from her. He felt...wrong. Like all his nerves burned. Like touching her was wrong but he wanted to touch her again. She was soft and her skin was cool despite how hard she'd been working all evening.

He saw her swallow, eyes widened with uncharacteristic nerves. She flushed, but didn't speak until he looked back at her. She gave him a moment before asking, "Was that okay?"

Reyes wasn't stupid. He knew what she was doing. A hand across the distance, an olive branch, an offering he couldn't take. She wanted him to be...something to her. Something more than a Commander, a patient, or a friend. Something he couldn't be. His fingers twitched before he took a deep breath, "Genji's in good hands. You don't have to trust Blackwatch, but you can trust me."

He saw the hopefulness in her eyes fade and it crushed something inside him, "Trust is hard to come by, Commander Reyes."

"Let me earn it," he replied, a hand on her shoulder again. Boldly, she tilted her head, pressing her face to his knuckles. Absently, his hand turned and he was touching her jaw and cheek. His thumb ran across the soft skin, rosy toned and warm unlike the rest of her.

She blinked up at him, confused again at how his actions were so different from his deflection earlier when she ventured into unknown territory with him. She pursed her lips, "Give him a real, honest chance to live as a person. Don't train him to be a living weapon. He's not an omnic."

"I'll do my best, doc," he pulled his hand away, lost in conflicted emotions within his chest, "but you won't like every decision I make."

"I never have liked all of your decisions, but Jack can't keep me away from you. That's your call to make," her words had a double meaning and he nodded slightly, trying to avoid the subject again.

"Can't promise you that you'll like my plans, but you'll come to understand."

-0-

He was wrong. She didn't understand.

Three months later, Angela was watching Genji once again obliterate the hardest training tests Overwatch had. She looked up from her clipboard, the smile on her face dropping immediately when she was finally introduced to the final member of Reyes's elite squad in Blackwatch.

"Dr. Ziegler, it's been a while. Reyes talked about you quite a bit."

"Dr. O'Deorain."

Angela hadn't seen her since she was a famous geneticist in Oasis. Now she was here, long disgraced for her cruel methods of experimentation. Angela's gaze flicked to Reyes; seeing his neutral expression irked her. He knew how Angela felt about Moira and her history and still took her on as the third member of his squad. He would arm Moira with everything she needed to continue her experiments.

Moira grinned, seemingly pleased at Angela's hesitancy, "We'll have to catch up. Reyes has given me quite the project and I cannot sit idly with all these tools at my disposal. We'll meet again, Angela."

When Moira turned away, Reyes turned to follow. For a brief moment, he paused to look at her. His eyes seemed to say it had to be done . Angela scowled at him, chest tight as she turned back to watch Genji's progress.

She was right in the end. Moira would take away everything.


	5. Chapter 5

Angela wouldn't speak to him. They weren't exactly best friends before, but the cold shoulder he would receive anytime he was within her vicinity was actually beginning to bother him. And that was the problem. He could go days, weeks, without speaking to anyone, but Angela was different. He grumbled, trying to pay attention to the baseball game Jesse put on the holoscreen in front of them. He sat slumped slightly with his arms crossed, glaring at the screen but not quiet watching it.

Genji sat on the floor nearby, watching the game curiously. Reyes regarded him like a kid of sorts; he was only 25 years old when his brother carved him up and left him for dead. Jesse was talking about the two American teams on screen, discussing their history with each other in a one-sided conversation with the ninja. Genji likely knew everything he was talking about already, but despite his ruthlessness in combat he tended to be polite and let his comrade talk.

Reyes couldn't get drunk, a side-effect from his strain of the SEP, but he drank from a beer bottle anyways as the boys continued watching the game. They sat around a leather couch in the Blackwatch common room, somewhere away from all the subterfuge and conflict with Overwatch agents.

Moira strolled in the room, causing Genji to perk up with interest. It seems that Reyes wasn't the only willing participant in some of her experiments. Reyes didn't bother to ask what Genji and Moira were up to, finding it unimportant until he saw a change on the battlefield.

God knows Jesse and Genji saw some changes from him. The first time he'd used shadow step, it terrified him. He had to physically calm himself down, claustrophobic in the lab with just Moira there. The geneticist was pleased to see his progress, considering him the perfect candidate.

With these newfound powers, he would be unstoppable. With age he was beginning to feel his body slow down, despite the SEP, and he hated it. After the first few trials of Moira's nanite solution, he felt younger than when he'd started at Overwatch. He was blindingly fast, able to move in the blink of an eye and, with his twin shotguns, he was virtually unstoppable.

He hadn't warned Jesse and Genji about the shadowy effects of his trials. The first time they saw the move he would call the death blossom, Jesse stared at him in slight horror, "What did you let her do to you, Reyes?"

He kept his eyes on the corpses that surrounded him as Moira looked on, pleased, "I've become more."

Genji, for his part, gave little reaction save to sheath his sword, "More enemies are coming."

And so the conversation was over. Jesse either shrugged it off or was trying to ignore the elephant in the room. Knowing the cowboy, it was likely the latter but Reyes wasn't going to discuss it. What he was doing was between him and Moira, no one else.

Moira grinned that hollow smile from her place in the doorway, "Evening, boys."

Genji nodded his head and Jesse absently waved to her, eyes on the holoscreen. Reyes took a swig of the beer, finishing it off and standing to throw it away. He didn't say anything to Jesse or Genji as he followed Moira out of the room and down the stairs.

Moira was tapping on a tablet with interest, going over medical records, "I'm considering perhaps transferring all Blackwatch agents to under my care."

"You mean as your experiments?"

Moira smirked, "Everything I do is consensual, Commander Reyes."

He scoffed, "Didn't know lab rats could give consent."

She kept her smirk, but it was colder now. She turned her back to him as they continued to the medical wing. Blackwatch didn't have one, so Jack had to force Angela and Moira to play nice. Not that it worked.

Angela was standing in her office, a phone pressed to her face. She looked concerned, tired, well beyond stressed. Likely she needed to get out more, but her work in the lab was piling up. Reyes watched as she absently turned to see him through her office window. A quiet washed over her features and she paled slightly when she saw him. Roughly, she moved forward and closed the blinds of her window with her free hand, casting her office in privacy.

Reyes turned away with a scowl, seeing Moira standing in her own office with a wickedly pleased expression. He glared, "Don't."

"I choose not to involve myself when mummy and daddy fight. Though she'll probably keep hating you until you tell her why you come home so late."

"Save it, Moira. Just give me the damn results."

"Touchy. That's why I like you, Reyes. Your buttons are hard to find, but easy to press. Here are your results," she handed him a clipboard. "Since that might as well be Latin, I'll translate. You've passed every trial, every test. We are closer than we've ever been at this point to creating an unstoppable soldier."

"How much farther can we go?" he swallowed. How much farther should they go?

Moira tapped on her tablet, bringing up a series of diagrams on her holoscreen, "Much, much further. You are unstoppable, Reyes, but I can make you unkillable . Your body will be shadow, your very DNA would be infused with nanites and every cell you have will be able to reconstruct on its own. You will never require healing and you will wield powers unimaginable from another dimension. I can make your death blossom five times what it is now."

He looked at the clipboard, "Is this what we need to do to save the world?"

"It matters not to me. My goal is to create a new humanity. You may use that tool how you wish. That is why you hired me after all."

Reyes took her offered pen and signed the documents, giving her full reign of every cell in his body. He remembered meeting Jack twenty years ago, as Soldier: 24. He asked why a farm boy from Indiana was trying to become a government weapon. Jack had looked up at him, blonder and less tired then, "Same as you. We make the choices others can't for the good of the world."

Now, Reyes was making the same call for the same reasons. Only, he wouldn't be a tool of the United States, he would be his own commander making his own decisions. Yes, he felt in every fiber of his being, this was the right call.

-0-

It was the middle of the night, nearing 3am Gibraltar time, when Angela was able to get a moment to herself. She'd been on the phone with Brigitte Lindholm, the young teen daughter of Torbjorn, who was crying about running away from school. Seemed she was being relentlessly bullied for her engineering interest in a more conservative part of Gothenburg. Torbjorn himself was out on a mission, so she couldn't get in contact with him to calm her down.

Times like this, Brigitte's mother Ingrid could do little to console her. Unlike her sisters, Brigitte was more of a tomboy and tended to get into rough spats at school with teasing boys. Angela sighed sadly; the opposite sex could be so cruel.

Once she was able to calm her and convince her to stay home, Angela was able to get off the phone and focus on her paperwork. She was going over medical files, sorting out patients that were in intensive care and candidates for cybernetics. Earlier, she'd closed the blinds to her window upon seeing Reyes, so she was surprised when there was a knock on her door.

She sighed, "Come in."

Reyes coughed slightly, standing uncomfortably in the doorway. It seemed he was waiting for her reaction.

She furrowed her brows, "Shut the door."

He did, moving forward and pushing his hood back off his head, "You gonna quit this cold shoulder shit now and talk to me?"

She pursed her lips, "What does it matter to you, Commander?"

He leveled her with a glare, "Don't ask stupid questions, Angela." There was a strange warmth in his words, almost like affection, almost like anger. She wasn't sure how to react. Her widened eyes gave her curiosity and confusion away. He'd rejected her when she attempted to make a move and now he was admitting he cares?

She frowned, looking down at her paperwork as she stood from her desk, "Reyes-"

"So I'm Reyes now?"

"I didn't think you wanted to be," her words were as biting as she'd intended, effectively cutting his anger off, "You have a Blackwatch doctor now."

"I know you don't like Moira-"

She laughed bitterly, "She's using my own nanite research for her experiments."

"Your research?"

"She stole it when I submitted it to the university of Oasis for funding while she was there. It was under strict copyright and protection but she got it nonetheless. Now she's going to create weapons with it without pause. And you gave her that power."

"She's an asset to Blackwatch, an edge we needed, and she needed something in return."

"I hope it was worth it, Commander."

"Back to 'Commander', huh? Tell me, when are you going to make up your mind about me?"

"I made up my mind about you years ago. You're the one who changed from the man I fell in love with." He stared and she turned away with an angry flush, "Please, just go."

"Why?"

"Because I can't stand you right now."

"Why do you- do you-" he was angry, his words spitfire.

She glared at him, arms crossed and eyes teary, "I've asked myself the same thing. Why you? Why not Jack or Jesse or someone easier and less insufferable? I don't have your answer. Just...leave Commander."

He clenched his fists, staring her down as she looked right back at him, and stormed out of her office.

-0-

He caught Jesse in the hallway and shoved him into an empty office, "Why didn't you stop her?"

Jesse shoved Reyes back, prying his hands off of him, "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Did you always know?"

Jesse scowled, silent for a moment while Reyes panted in anger, "I'm not involved in your sh-"

Reyes snarled, "You've been involved! God dammit, don't you dare lie to me McCree."

"What do you want me to say? That I encouraged her? I've spent years literally doin' everything but that. I know you, Reyes. You hurt and you kill and those are the two things you're best at. Now it's even worse with Moira here injecting you with that shit. You're stronger, but you're also becoming uncontrollable, even to yourself. Ain't her goddamned fault; it's not like she picked you."

Reyes quieted, "Fuck."

"You know she ain't expecting anything. You don't need to let it eat you that you don't feel that way about her. It's ain't like she's trying to pursue you. Just ignore it and move on, boss," Jesse was straightening his wrinkled serape and he'd quieted when Reyes did.

Reyes grimaced, suddenly looking a little horrified, "I can't...I can't ignore it."

Jesse silenced, paled, and widened his eyes all in that order, "You're kidding me."

Reyes stared at the wall, a little dazed, "Shit."

"You got that right."

The two men stood there in a long moment of silence, both Reyes and Jesse slightly horrified. Clarity came to Reyes and he growled at Jesse, "We never had this conversation."

Jesse straightened his hat, watching his commander leave the room, "Yeah, boss."

-0-

Angela would have been glad to be out in the field if it wasn't such a horrific battle. Talon was strong, overwhelming their forces greatly in Ukraine. The Ukrainian army was suffering heavy casualties and the UN was considering pulling Overwatch out of there for a retreat. Blackwatch entered the field days ago, but she hadn't seen them since they jumped straight into the fire.

She wiped her face, trying to keep the soot off of her as they climbed the dark stairwell to the top of a building. She nearly fell on the last step, scrambling to her feet as she reached the roof. She peered over the side and saw a group of workers, dressed in torn t-shirts and jeans. Spreading her wings, she soared from the rooftop down to them, healing them and looking over their wounds.

They thanked her in Ukrainian with frightened eyes and she pointed them a direction of safety. Behind her, a group of Talon agents came upon them. Glaring and spreading her wings, she knew she was the bigger target as she made a dash for the road.

The came after her and she panted as she ran. With the pace they were keeping up at, she was unable to stop properly and take off. Just when she considered risking a running start, she heard a yelp behind her. She whirled to see thick, black smoke hovering over the street like fog. The Talon agents stood petrified within it, staring in horror as a figure rose from the shadows.

Angela dashed to a side building, leaning in exhaustion against a wall. She closed her eyes, trying to focus on her breath over the screams. She flinched when a shot gun went off, then the sound repeated over and over in a stream of blasts and cries of pain.

She trembled, not hearing but feeling the figure come closer. She gripped her blaster, holding it up towards the doorway. The figure appeared, moonlight lighting his features. Reyes.

Her voice shook as she continued pointing her gun, "Those were hellfire shotguns."

"Angela-"

"You're letting her test out reconstructive nanites on you cells."

"It's not-"

"It is," she raised her voice, "it's exactly that. I'm right aren't I?" He remained silent, hazel eyes glowing in the dark with flecks of red. Even beyond the smoke powers, there was something else going on. Those eyes...this wasn't only Reyes. "Answer me."

With a blink, he was close enough to grab her gun from her hand, pushing it down as she pulled the trigger. The energy blast burst a hole into the stony wall behind them. His hand was tight on her's, knuckles white. The room suddenly was darker. She began to shiver in earnest, suddenly cold and terrified.

She forced herself to look up at him. His irises were redder, flicks of the color lightening unnaturally. Her voice came out in a whisper, "Reyes...Gabriel..."

He suddenly blinked, looking like he just came to his senses. He realized his bruising grip on her and the horrified look on her face, "Uh, I-"

She was surprised by her own sob, dropping her blaster as soon as he let go of her hand, "Why?" she whimpered to the darkness, collapsing from exhaustion to her knees.

She didn't expect him to kneel down in front of her, looking pale and slightly dazed, "It's alright." As much as she wanted to hate him, push him away, she allowed it when he grabbed her face, trying to get her to look at him. His brows were furrowed and he looked like he was trying to convince both of them, "It's alright, Angela. I've got control."

She shook her hand, feeling his thumbs run across her skin, "Why you?"

He swallowed and she could feel his heart rate speed up. He leaned forward, beard rough against her neck as he pressed his face into it. His whisper was close to her ear, "It had to be done, doc."

She looked at him, eyes wet and shining and so, so, tired. For a moment, she glanced at his lips and she wanted to kiss him. But there was so much pain in her chest, she didn't have room for any more. Instead, she ran her hand across the back of his head, feeling where the undercut met the long strands of his pushed-back hair. With slight pressure, she pulled him closer until their foreheads touched.

She was still terrified, but she wasn't cold anymore.

She looked at him, still pressed close when he spoke, "What you want...I can't give it to you."

"I know," she sighed, "I've always known, Reyes."

He ran a hand along her jaw, his actions speaking the emotions he said he couldn't give her, "You can call me Gabriel."

She tilted her head to kiss his cheek, emotions overshadowing her logic, "Take care of yourself, Gabriel."

It felt like a goodbye, though they would see each other many times after.

-0-

2065: Two years later.

He was pining again. A term coined by Jesse with a snarky tone. The cowboy didn't know what to think about them, but he was busy with his own work. The espionage and inner workings of Blackwatch was beginning to weigh on his usual sunny personality.

Moira sought and received permission from Jack to transfer all Blackwatch agents to her care. It pleased the Irishwoman, as she could conduct her experiments without Overwatch hovering and it cut off Angela completely from Blackwatch operations.

Reyes watched as Angela spoke quietly with Jack, their conversation light. It seemed the years had repaired their friendship and Jack had truly began to calm down now that things with Talon were less hectic. Blackwatch was doing its job.

She looked up slightly when Jack's attention was on Ana approaching them. Angela's cerulean eyes found Reyes and her smile was soft. He would think of her lips on his cheek so often, how soft they were, how much he-

You want her.

Stop talking, he replied to the voice in his head.

I want her. I want to crush her steel wings. See that pretty face gasp your name in our arms while you press her down and-

"Boss, we gotta go," Jesse spoke softly next to him, looking at him in concern. Angela had long turned back to her conversation with Ana and Jack, her back turned to him. He didn't know how long he'd been staring at the wall, trying to stifle the voice in his head. The Reaper.

He swallowed thickly, "Let's get out of here."

They boarded the drop ship, heading for the new Blackwatch Rome facility. There they would meet Gerard Lacroix to discuss battle plans and it would give Reyes time to clear his head.

Your head's never gonna be clear, Gabriel, the voice rumbled.

Reyes gripped the straps of his seat belt tightly, glaring out the window.

"You alright, Reyes?" he heard Jesse ask him, but he remained silent, cherishing it for the long ride.


	6. Chapter 6

Inside the dropship above Rome, Gabriel removed his beanie. He gripped the thick cloth in his hands, watching out the window as the pilot flew them from Rome to Zurich. Gibraltar's political landscape was becoming unstable and the UN ordered Overwatch to take over the new Swiss location as its headquarters. The move from Gibraltar to Zurich was as smooth as could be...meaning it was complicated and a complete pain in the ass.

The events kept him mostly to his own devices in Blackwatch, going over masses of paperwork. Angela and Jack were paired closely together to work out the move for Overwatch. Reyes gripped the beanie even tighter and tried not to think about that . He roughly ran a hand over his head, where the hair was now cut short. Jesse and Moira had given him absolute shit for it, with the Irishwoman saying he looked old . He tartly reminded her that he was approaching 50. If it weren't for the SEP and Moira's own experiments, he would certainly be wrinkled and graying now. Jack, lacking both Reaper and the strain of SEP used on Reyes, was already beginning to show his age. Jesse snored in his seat, the brim of his hat pushed low over his eyes. They continued their flight over Italy.

The Rome facility would really change everything. After Gibraltar, the UN wanted to part Blackwatch from the rest of the organization. That meant that he, Moira, Genji, and Jesse would be completely separated from the Overwatch agents. Moira and Genji seemed indifferent but...Jesse was staunchly opposed to the idea. Angela was his best friend, had been for seven years now, and the idea of probably never seeing her again unless they crossed paths on the field was not one he was okay with. He'd been kicked out of Jack's office three times by this point.

The cowboy had approached Reyes, completely fed up. He slammed his fist on the wall of Reyes's office while the commander watched with crossed arms, "God dammit, Reyes, don't you care?!"

"No," he lied, "Overwatch means nothing to me." And Jesse caught the lie so quickly.

"Overwatch means everything to you. They're isolating us like they're ashamed of what we do."

"They are ashamed, Jesse. Let it go."

"Let it go?! So we're never going to see Ana and Angela again and you're alright with that? They were our friends , Reyes."

He sighed, rubbing his eyes, "What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to admit that you care."

"That won't do anything."

"It would make Angela feel better, not that it ever mattered to you."

"Watch yourself, kid," he warned.

"Don't worry I've learned to accept that you're keen on making yourself miserable," Jesse huffed, crossing his arms. The two men stared each other down, feeling the weight of the move on their shoulders.

That was days ago and now they sat aboard the drop ship after a tour of the new Blackwatch facility in Rome. Gerard could barely contain the smirk on his face. Unlike the rest of the UN, Gerard Lacroix was proud of Blackwatch and the things they'd accomplished in the 18 years they'd been operating.

He'd grown to trust the French diplomat, going as far as taking an invitation from him to one of those stuffy events he liked so much. He hadn't dressed up, just going for his usual fatigues, but the French politicians and socialites were quite excited to meet him. He'd received quite a few propositions that evening. Some political and some...more personal.

Amelie Lacroix approached him as he stood in the back of the room, away from the music and crowd. She was dressed in white silk, blue jewels framing her jet black hair and powdered skin. She smirked at him, pressing a glass of champagne to her lips, "Commander, you're quite popular this evening."

"Didn't think they took that much interest in a special ops division that's supposed to be a big damned secret."

She laughed, "I think they're more interested in you than what you represent," at his silence, she continued with a neutral expression, "I did not think you were spoken for, Reyes."

"I'm not," he replied, a little cagey.

She watched him silently for a moment, "You know, Dr. Ziegler is one of my closest friends."

He stared meaningfully into the crowd, "I know that."

"I don't understand why you both are so keen on keeping apart. Is it the age difference? You know, Gerard is quite a bit older than I. That did not cease our love."

He grimaced, knowing there was no point in arguing with Amelie. She was incredibly perceptive. If she wasn't so focused on being a famous ballerina, she would make a good Blackwatch agent, "It's not that. It's...complicated."

Amelie sighed, finishing her champagne, "She's beautiful, smart, and heartbroken. It would be so simple for you to leave this party and just go to her."

"She deserves better than what I could give her."

"Perhaps. Perhaps she does deserve better. But she wants you," Amelie sighed, smiling when Gerard approached them through the crowd. She straightened his bow tie lovingly and he placed an arm around her hips.

"Mind if I steal my wife, Commander? You've got quite a few socialites lining up to meet you."

He shoved his hands in his pockets, regretting coming to this party already. Amelie shot him a look before Gerard turned her away. The words in her eyes spoke to him: Don't withhold yourself. You'll regret it later.

But that's precisely what he was trying to do. Prevent himself from doing something both he and Angela would regret. Reaper hummed in the back of his mind, thoughts curling into his psyche like smoke.

She can read you. Just like Angie. If you were stronger, colder...you wouldn't be so predictable.

He grimaced, leaving the Reaper unanswered as he continued watching the party from the back of the room. The socialites and Reyes's thoughts went ignored throughout the night.

-0-

Reyes was snapped out of his thoughts by a harsh alarm and the voice of the pilot over the comm, "Commander Reyes! There's been an incident at the Rome facility!"

He unbuckled as Jesse stirred awake, straightening his hat quickly, "What's going on?"

Reyes headed for the front of the drop ship, "Bad news," he opened the door to the cockpit, approaching the pilot, "Get us back to the facility."

The pilot turned the drop ship, but shook his head, "I can't find a safe place to land."

The three men stared out the front window at the smoldering wreckage that once was the flawless facility they'd left only minutes ago. Reyes scowled, "Talon. Get us as close as possible."

He and Jesse grabbed their weapons and he shoved the beanie back on his head. They hopped down from the drop ship, squinting at the fiery wreckage. Jesse turned to him, "No way anyone survived that. And neither will we if we go in there."

Reyes glared at the crumbling steel beams without looking at the cowboy, "Stay here, Jesse."

"What? Boss, what are you-"

"That's an order!" he barked, shadow stepping into the wreckage before Jesse could reply. He hoped Jesse would listen for once, knowing the idiot was prone to playing hero.

Gerard might be pompous and a bit condescending, but he was genius. He likely had no time to actually seek shelter from the bomb, but he managed to find a spot away from the fire near a fire extinguisher beneath two steel beams that held up under the immense weight of the falling concrete. Reyes appeared before him. The Frenchman was so out of it from his head wound, that he was hardly startled by the smoke surrounding Reyes.

He slung Gerard's arm over his shoulder, careful not to jostle him too hard, before he managed to shadow step them outside of the building. Truthfully, shadow stepping two people took a lot out of him and he was a bit dazed when he landed in front of Jesse and the Italian firefighters working on the wreckage.

Jesse helped the paramedics load Gerard onto a stretcher as Overwatch drop ships began to land around the crumbled remains of the Rome facility. Reyes stared at the fire.

"We gotta go, the firefighters will pull out any survivors."

Reyes didn't look at him. His mouth opened, but Reaper's voice came out, "There are no other survivors." It was deep and gravely, like burning charcoal. He suddenly blinked, his mind becoming less hazy as he felt the heat of the flames on his skin. He turned and Jesse was looking at him, slightly horrified. He spoke in his own voice, "We need to find Jack."

Jesse's expression didn't change, but he nodded, wary as he followed Reyes onto the dropship.

-0-

Reyes played the scene over and over in his mind. Moira, Jesse, and Genji behind him. That piece of shit fat fuck Antonio smirking at him. He briefly glanced to the side, knowing Moira was anticipating Reaper's move.

Reaper's voice filled his head, fuck Overwatch, he deserves to die.

He spoke to both Reaper and Antonio, "You're right." A quick shot from the hellfire and Antonio's corpse was out the window, splattered all over the Venetian concrete.

Genji was cleaning his sword, Moira was watching out the window with a pleased expression, and Jesse was wrapping his bleeding knuckles. Reyes kept to himself, staring down at the floor in thought.

The shit hit the fan when he landed. Before Jack could even get a word in, Jesse was grabbing Reyes and screaming. He did a shit job wrapping his knuckles and they bled through as Jesse did his best to manhandle his commander. He was still yelling, about Reyes being an inconsiderate, impulsive son of a bitch, when Jack was able to pry him off. Reyes could have smashed his face in, but he did nothing as he watched Jack shove the cowboy against a wall. Jesse cursed and spat as Genji and Moira calmly passed. Reyes straightened his mussed up jacket.

Ana entered the room to take over for Jack and Jack approached him, "My office, Gabe, now." His use of Reyes's first name held more meaning than Reyes had time to interpret. He scowled and followed the Overwatch commander.

Angela passed them in the hallway, huffing with a frustrated glance at Reyes. Faintly, he heard her voice behind him, "Jesse! Your hands-"

-0-

Angela expected a quiet Saturday night, save for what was going on in Jack's office. Gerard had recovered quickly with Angela's nanites, as she assured Gabriel and Jack that he would. He was present in the fighting, looking on with disappointment at what Gabriel had done. She couldn't understand why he would expose Blackwatch so recklessly by killing Antonio like that. Despite what he'd done and who he worked with, the UN was furious with Gabriel for killing the crime boss.

The fighting never ceased long enough for her to talk to any of them. Ana looked stressed, finally to the point where she couldn't calm the storm between the two commanders. Gabriel looked at Jack with eyes that...weren't quite Gabriel. Something akin to spite and hatred. He never looked at Jack like that before.

She gripped her mug of tea tightly, staring out the window at the Zurich skyline. Before she had a chance to take a nice bath, a knock was heard at her door. She opened it, surprised to see Amelie dressed in a purple sequined gown, her hair uncharacteristically loose.

"Angela, we're going to dinner."

The doctor blinked, "Dinner?"

"Yes," Amelie frowned slightly, "it is my anniversary and my husband would rather fight with Gabriel and Jack than go with me. Even after his remarkable recovery, he is too worked up to indulge with me. These reservations took me three months to make and I am not letting him ruin my Saturday night. So you are my date."

Angela stared at her before a smile graced her face, "I don't have anything to wear."

"Nonsense, you'll wear something of mine," Amelie strolled into her dorm, passing into the bedroom to produce a gently folded gown from a leather tote bag.

Then Angela was changed into the gown of soft smoky gray. It wasn't sequined like Amelie's, but it was most certainly fancier than anything Angela usually wore. She'd insisted on wearing a nice blouse with a black skirt, but Amelie told her that her dates deserved only the finest clothing. Angela had to laugh at that, knowing Amelie was being facetious and stubborn, taking her friend to dinner instead of her workaholic husband.

The doctor conceded and let Amelie play doll with her, "Angela, your hair is so beautiful. I've always wanted a little girl. Perhaps I'll use you for practice, hm? When Gerard takes the time to give me a little one I'll be able to dress her up all I want." Angela smiled softly as Amelie mused her future family.

The two women approached Amelie's personal drop ship on the helipad, climbing aboard for the fancy Swiss restaurant. They enjoyed themselves, laughing as they discussed their careers, careful not to use specifics or names in public.

Angela found she rather enjoyed herself, feeling like Amelie was spoiling her. It had been a long time since she was able to wear something other than scrubs or her Valkyrie and the looks she'd received did wonders for her self-esteem. If she and Amelie were in the Swiss tabloids later, neither woman minded.

Later they sat at the restaurant's bar, enjoying fancy liquors Amelie had ordered for the two of them. As Amelie was signing an autograph for the bartender, Angela looked over at the television. Speaking the language, she picked up on the sudden change in tone on the news.

She touched Amelie's arm, grabbing her attention as they looked at the screen.

On it, pictures of Gabriel appeared, followed by Jesse, Genji, and Moira in battle. Some of them, the newscaster warned, were quite gruesome. She didn't lie when they showed what Gabriel had done to some of his victims. The piece was on Blackwatch. The reporter stood in front of a pile of steel and concrete that was once the Rome facility, wind sweeping her hair,

"The United Nations has yet to comment on this special ops team and their assassination. However, with the growing public outcry, they cannot remain silent for long." Her words were finalized with a picture of Gabriel and Jesse standing in front of the wreckage. Jesse looked at Gabriel with an expression of horror while Gabriel stared at the flames.

Angela furrowed her brows and Amelie placed a cool hand on her shoulder, "Let's get back. The night is still young and you have time to relax."

She nodded to Amelie, taking the out she was giving her, and they headed back to the Swiss Headquarters.

-0-

Reyes paced the hallway outside his temporary dorms. He didn't have any personal effects besides his combat gear, and those remained in a box inside his temporary room. They were to be moved to the Rome facility, but...that wasn't happening anymore.

He continued pacing, when a strange far-off alertness stopped him. Reaper was sensing something. He grumbled at the wall, "What is it?"

Angela's back.

"I didn't know she left," apparently his sanity was gone, because he was speaking out loud to himself.

I knew. Jack's with her.

"Why do you care?" he moved to go into his room when Reaper's control on his hand froze his body. A cold sweat broke out on his neck.

We care.

With that, his body transformed to smoke, drifting into the ceiling vent. Against all his control, Reaper took them down the air conditioning vents, drifting almost gently but with blinding speed. They stopped, spreading enough to become an invisible haze across the carpeted hallway.

At an angle, almost above them, Reyes saw Angela and Jack. She was dressed in a long gown of gray, her hair down and tucked behind her ears. Makeup decorated her face, making her blue eyes even brighter than usual. Her appearance made something tighten in Reyes's non-existent chest and Reaper cackled lowly.

Jack was standing close, too close, to Angela, his hand gently taking hers, "I'm sorry you have to see all this. I need to know...that if things go down...that I can count on you."

Angela's brows furrowed, "We're all on the same side, Jack."

"Are we?"

"He's not our enemy."

Jack tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear. For a moment, Reyes thought he might kiss her. And he really might have, if not for the sad look in Angela's eyes, "Jack…"

"Still?"

She briefly looked surprised, before the sadness returned. She nodded, "I don't think it will ever go away."

"He isn't the same man anymore."

"What do you want me to say?"

"You know what I want you to say," there was a meaning in those words.

Angela gripped Jack's hand, "Goodnight, Jack."

Jack smiled bitterly, "Goodnight, Angela."

Pretty boy knows not to try to take what isn't his.

Reyes swallowed thickly, not ours, either.

That can change. Reaper changed them back to a solid form when Jack left, appearing in front of Angela's closed door. Do it, Gabriel.

Sweating slightly, Reyes knocked on the door despite his better judgement.

She opened it after a moment, looking at him strangely as she began to remove her earrings, "Gabriel? What's wrong?"

It occurred to him this was the first time they'd spoken since he killed Antonio. His mind was still haunted, but Reaper was behaving for now, "Angela…"

"Come in," she let him in and closed the door behind him, "you don't look well."

Reaper spoke through his mouth, "And here I thought you liked how I look."

Angela looked stunned, "What?"

Reyes swallowed, panting slightly, "Shit…"

"Gabriel, you're scaring me," she approached him despite her wariness.

He looked her over, both Reaper and Reyes combing over how the dress hugged her porcelain skin. Taut stomach and shapely hips. He clenched his teeth. He reached up and placed his hands on her face, combing his fingers through her loose hair.

She froze, eyes widened and pupils blown the second he touched her. Reyes always liked power, liked the feeling of having someone under his mercy. She gasped quietly when he pressed her back against the wall, a little roughly but his hands on her protected her head.

She reached up, trembling hands on his wrists, "Gabriel, what are you doing?"

"What I should have done in Ukraine," he replied absently before kissing her.

He didn't know how he expected her to react. Maybe he had expected her to shove him away or slap him. But he nearly flinched at her quick reciprocation. She pressed to him like he was an oasis, opening her mouth in slightly unpracticed hesitance. His hands lowered and he pulled her by the hips against him. The fabric felt thin enough to rip beneath his fingers.

His tongue ran along her lip and she whimpered. There was no way she didn't feel his hard cock pressed against her. She squirmed, but delightfully so, nails digging into his biceps. Breaking apart, she stared at him briefly. He didn't have time to properly say anything before she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him towards her. His hands ran down her spine, making her arch her back, until they rested just above her tailbone. He could feel the muscles of her arms clench as she pulled him closer, desperately closer.

She was completely gone for him and a cocktail of guilt and pleasure swirled in his chest. He wanted this, had wanted this for so long. She was kissing him, tongue pressed to his, with more desperation and abandon that he ever deserved.

She broke away from him again, letting them both breathe. He panted with her, hands moving to her sides while her arms loosened. They looked at each other, his expression grim and hers shocked. Reaper egged him on as he kissed her jawline, down her neck, and she whimpered again.

"Gabriel," she moaned, "Gabriel we can't."

"Te follaré contra esta pared, " Reaper mewled into her neck.

"I...wh-what?" Angela stumbled, too dazed to try to decipher his words.

He panted, loosening his grip on her despite what Reaper wanted. He stepped back, leaving her flushed and confused. She looked so pretty. His chest hurt. His head hurt. Dios, he was so hard it hurt.

"Angela...I want you. Every inch of you."

"Gabriel-"

"You need to stay away from me."

"Stop this," Angela said, suddenly upset, "why must you torment me like this? You want me, but you push me away. What is this? Getting me out of your system?"

"No," he replied, more gentle than he'd ever spoken in his life, "if I was anyone else...if we were anyone else-"

"If you were anyone else I wouldn't love you. Would you say the same?"

"I-" he rubbed his forehead, feeling the cold sweat.

"Do you love me, Gabriel?"

He grit his teeth, staring at the wall above her head. Growling, he looked away from her flushed skin and swollen lips. "Don't ask me that."

After a long silence, her shoulders slumped, "What is happening to you?"

"You tell me, doc."

"Moira…"

He didn't reply to that, just looked her over again, "You look beautiful."

She blushed prettily, turning away, "Amelie and I went out to dinner." He nodded, awkwardly standing in front of her. She reached out and took his hand, twining his fingers in hers, "come here."

He allowed her to pull him to her couch, where she pushed him to sit on the couch. She went into her bathroom, grabbing him a washcloth. Gently, she handed him it as she pulled her hair up to its usual style.

He wiped his face, removing the sweat. Tossing the washcloth onto her coffee table, he grumbled, looking away. With her arms raised into her hair, he could tell she wasn't wearing a bra. Reaper rumbled under his skin and he was still uncomfortably hard, "I should-"

She shook her head, moving closer to him and leaning against his shoulder on the couch, "Let me have this, Gabriel."

He did. He allowed her to intertwine their fingers as she leaned against him on the couch. He stared out into the dark silence of her room, where no light but the window filtered through. She pressed to him like it was the last time she would ever get to do so.

He frowned, growing angry at the Reaper inside him. He had to stay away. The Reaper was necessary, absolutely needed for the future of Overwatch and Blackwatch, but he would need to keep it away from Angela. Even if that meant it was the last time he would ever feel her soft skin.

He gripped the arm of Angela's couch tightly with his free hand, smoke curling out from between his fingers.


	7. Chapter 7

Angela sat in the early hours of the morning in her office, blinds firmly closed, looking over the files spread across the wooden desk. She'd spent the last week fitting Gerard Lacroix for cybernetic implants to help repair his damaged spinal cord. His survival was miraculous. When Gabriel pulled him out of the flames, he'd suffered major head trauma from shrapnel and had severe smoke inhalation. The new implants would work similar to her own, but the plating would be slightly smoother to help maintain a more normal appeal, as Gerard was accustomed to. Angela smiled, no one would be able to tell under the suits.

Earlier that week she was called into Jack's office for a meeting, surprised to see Gerard looking healthier as he moved about in his electric wheelchair. Gabriel leaned against the wall, Jesse beside him. Neither were looking at her. But Jack's focus was primarily on her arrival, "Dr. Ziegler, we'd like you to commission a cybernetic spine for Mr. Lacroix."

Angela turned to the Frenchman, surprised he was interested in her help. She was certain he would be more willing to work with Moira, considering they were on more familiar grounds than Gerard and she. She'd done nothing more than stabilize his condition after the Rome attack. Gerard stared right at her, sharp eyes piercing, "Commander Reyes said you were the best. I trust his judgement."

She blinked at Gabriel in confusion and the commander's eyes were firmly on the ground. Jesse crossed his arms, saying nothing, though he looked like he wanted to say quite a bit. Jack rubbed his forehead, clearly stressing but wise enough not to voice his thoughts either. Receiving no vocal confirmation, Angela nodded at Gerard, holding out her hand, "Of course, Mr. Lacroix, let us get your measurements."

Gerard took her hand, shaking it, "After you, Dr. Ziegler."

When he unlocked the brake to his wheelchair, Angela lead the way out of Jack's office to the medical wing.

-0-

Now she had the measurements and the blueprints, but they weren't quite final. She tapped the paper with a white marker, making note of certain wiring that would need special calibrating. She would need to contact Gerard for a nanite appointment, where she would have to test his tolerance for certain strains. Angela grimaced; that was usually the worst part about fitting cybernetics. She'd lost count of how many times she had to perform these tests on Genji.

Even if he held a deep-rooted contempt for his own body that made Angela uncomfortable, she found that she missed having him as a patient. He was polite and reserved, something so uncommon in Overwatch. He was the first patient Moira made sure was transferred to her own care. Angela gripped her marker tightly, not knowing the lengths at which Moira was going to test Genji's body. He wasn't a lab rat, he was a person, and Angela feared Moira's experiments would ruin him psychologically.

Angela sipped her caffeinated green tea, setting the porcelain cup down along with her blueprint marker. She stood and smoothed her lab coat. When she made for the kitchen to make another batch, she was surprised to hear a knock on her door. It was 3:00am local time and hardy anyone outside the guard was awake. She opened her office door to see Gerard Lacroix, shaking and pale in his wheelchair.

Wordlessly, she let him in and he stopped halfway through her office with a jerk. He turned the wheelchair towards Angela, leveling her with a hard stare, "Have you heard at all from Amelie in the past week?"

Angela blinked, "No, I haven't. Not since we had dinner together."

"Yes, when you went out together on our anniversary."

"Mr. Lacroix, it wasn't like that-"

"No matter. I don't suppose you've spoken to her since her drop ship left the base, correct?" His words were prim and polite, but she saw his fingers nervously twitch on the remote of his wheelchair.

"That is correct. Has something happened?"

Gerard swallowed, "Follow me, Dr. Ziegler."

He left, leaving her no room to argue. She locked her office, trailing after him through the hallways to Jack's office. The strike commander was inside, Ana and Gabriel with him. They all looked disheveled. Jack and Ana were dressed in crumpled uniforms, but Gabriel was wearing an unzipped hoodie, plain t-shirt, and track pants. He rubbed his eyes, looking sleepy and sleepless all at once. Something in Angela's chest hurt at seeing him so exhausted. At the same time...seeing him in such casual clothing was giving her a sense of intimacy that made her stomach flutter and she quickly turned her focus to Gerard.

She waited, holding her breath as Jack combed his fingers through his hair, "What's all this about, Gerard?"

"Amelie has been kidnapped."

Angela's head snapped up so quickly it felt like whiplash. She looked at Gerard, reading for a hint of a lie...anything...but he kept his grim expression.

"Kidnapped?" Ana interjected the silence, "Are you certain, Gerard?"

"I am. And I am certain it was Talon."

"They've been trying to assassinate you for some time. It only makes sense they would find another way to get your attention," Angela wanted to scold Gabriel for saying it to cruelly, but he was right. Amelie was the love of Gerard's life...and his greatest weakness.

"She's been missing for four days. I assumed she'd just left early for her trip to Milan. Sometimes she forgets to call. However, I called only to find out she'd never arrived for her practices…"

Gerard tried to breathe evenly, but he was beginning to tremble. Angela approached him, leaning down, "We will find her, Mr. Lacroix." She'd expected Gerard to shove her away in some semblance of pride, but his cool hand turned, palm up. She placed her own in his, surprised by his strong grip.

Gerard looked at her with sad eyes, "I know where she is." Jack, Ana, and Gabriel all looked at him in interest, "Two hours ago I received an audio message. It only contains coordinates."

Jack turned and played the message Gerard had sent him. A voice came over the speakers. Amelie's voice. It was monotone, coldly reading out numbers in English. Angela shuddered, gritting her teeth. Something about that voice...it was so lifeless. He felt Gerard's hand trembling in hers. She looked to Gerard, seeing how his thoughts were parallel to hers.

Gabriel roughly straightened from against the wall, shoving his hands in his hoodie pockets, "This could be a trap."

"It most certainly is," Ana agreed.

Jack furrowed his brows and Gerard looked to the strike commander, "Please Jack...this is my wife."

Angela pursed her lips. Amelie was her friend. She had no dog in this fight. Straightening and moving her hand from Gerard's to his shoulder, she looked at Jack, "I'll go."

"Dr. Ziegler-"

"If nobody else is willing to go I will."

"It's not your call," Ana sighed in frustration.

"You heard her voice, Ana. They've done something to her. If we find her and she's hurt-"

Gerard closed his eyes, grimacing, "She is most certainly hurt. That voice...that is Amelie...but that is not my wife."

Angela approached Jack, placing her hands on his desk, "Jack, please."

Gabriel cut the tension, "Blackwatch will go. We'll be able to tell if things aren't what they seem. Moira will be able to assess her condition once we find her."

Despite Angela's hot glare, Jack nodded in agreement, "Go ahead. We can't waste any time on this."

Gabriel nodded, sharing a meaningful look with Gerard before leaving the office. Ana stood next to Jack, tucking her hair behind her ears, "I'm going back to bed."

Jack nodded, "I'll update you on Blackwatch's progress in the morning. Reyes will hopefully having something for us in the next few hours."

"Those coordinates are in the Alps, which means they can't be too far by drop ship," Gerard responded hazily, like he was caught in a nightmare. Angela supposed he was.

She still glared at Jack and he decided to stop ignoring her when Ana left, "Angela, it's Gabriel's call. He wants Moira on this."

Angela clenched her jaw, "Then I suppose I should state my case."

"Don't piss him off, Angela-" she turned on her heel and stormed out before he could stop her, leaving Gerard and Jack in the office.

-0-

Angela wasn't surprised to find him in the armory. He was changed out of the track pants to his normal cargo pants, zipped up the hoodie, and was strapping on his chest plate. She left the door open behind her when she saw that Genji was with him. He was adjusting his jaw plate, grumbling in annoyance.

"Genji, please leave us."

Without consulting his boss, and despite Gabriel's glare, Genji nodded, "Of course, Dr. Ziegler."

Genji closed the door behind him, not looking back as Angela shot Gabriel a nasty scowl. Gabriel tightened the chest strap on his side, moving to pull on his shotgun holsters, "Don't waste your breath trying to convince me."

"I'm not here to convince you. I am coming with you."

"Last time I checked you're not a part of Blackwatch."

"Last time I checked neither was Gerard. If you're going to blur the lines then you have no right to start drawing them again."

Gabriel pulled on his beanie roughly, turning to shoot her with another glare, "This isn't the place for you. I can't concentrate on the enemy if my team has to cover your ass on the field."

If it had been a couple of years ago, the comment would have stung. But she was a hardened shell and her Valkyrie's armor was harder, "Then tell them to keep out of my way. I'm much more capable than any combat medic in the field and both you and Jack are aware of that."

"Moira's capable. I entrust her to take care of Amelie."

"You entrust her with entirely too much. You may allow the Blackwatch agents who put their lives in yourhands to be entrenched in her claws, but Amelie is different."

The room grew darker, hazier, and Gabriel straightened to stand in front of her, glaring hotly, "Watch yourself, doc."

"Spare me your intimidation tactics, Gabriel, I've faced scarier men than you."

Gabriel smirked a little crookedly, "Nobody's scarier than me." The voice wasn't his. Despite the fear clawing her spine, Angela stood her ground.

Her tone was softer now, less indignant, "You told Gerard I was the best."

He seemed to calm at that, "That was different."

"Tell me, you've seen torture victims. Do you really think Amelie will want to be cared for by Moira when I could be there? She's one of my closest friends. Let me give her that care, if not just for medical reasons but for her own mental well being. She's going to be terrified."

Gabriel clenched his teeth, turning to strap his hellfire shotgun to his hip. When he finished with the other one, he snarled, "Just get ready, Angela. We're leaving in half an hour."

-0-

Jesse was pissed, but what else was new. It seemed he could do nothing to quell the cowboy's temper since Blackwatch was exposed to the world. Fortunately, this meant they didn't need to do any sneaking when they left by drop ship to the Austrian Alps. The coordinates were given to the pilot by Reyes, where he could watch their navigation on his tablet.

He leaned with his elbows on his knees, watching the tablet as they wove between mountains. Jesse was glaring out the window, Moira quietly sitting beside him. The scientist was dozing off, having stayed up all night working on God-knows-what.

"Here, let me see," Angela offered to Genji, who was fiddling with his face plate, "you've been trying to adjust it all night."

"Ah, that is alright, Dr. Ziegler," Reyes could swear he saw Genji's pale face flush under the mask. He raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

Angela frowned, taking his hesitancy the wrong way. She shot the sleeping Moira a daggered look before standing to head to the back of the ship. Jesse roughly stood, nearly startling Moira awake, and trudged after her. They stayed in the back of the ship, harshly whispering to each other. Reyes tried to ignore it all, not moving until they arrived at the location.

They landed between a series of strange stone buildings, mostly crumbled. An abandoned village in the mountains. The morning sky was gray and rumbled with a coming storm. When they dropped from the drop ship, Angela activated her wings. If the drop ship wasn't obvious enough that they'd arrived, the bright blue of her Valkyrie was enough to draw attention. Unfortunately, the forest in these mountains was dense and they had no choice but to break any potential cover they had.

Reyes trudged first, unholstering his shotguns and leading the way through the buildings. Genji and Jesse flanked him, darting in and out of the structures, clearing them of enemies. It wasn't until they got closer to the main building in the middle of the old village that the turrets came out.

Angela and Moira darted behind structures while Genji sprung to action, slicing the machinery down while Jesse shot them from his cover. Reyes waited behind a pillar, searching for any sign of human enemy.

The waves came one by one, mostly reprogrammed omnics before the humans came. Guards came out of the main building, soon shot down by Reyes. The battle was long, but easier than it was in Venice after he shot Antonio. Angela flew to Genji's side, monitoring his health while Moira healed a bullet graze on Jesse's shoulder. So far, so good.

They'd arrived at the building, Genji going first to sneak through the shadows. He came back minutes later, shaking his head. No enemies. Reyes was confused. There was no way they would just let Amelie go like this. There had to be more.

But there wasn't. Once they'd cleared the entire building, they reached the large open room where Amelie sat in the middle. She was dressed in dark clothing, looking pale but uninjured. Angela held up a hand to Jesse, softly approaching the woman.

Amelie looked up, blinking in confusion before surprise graced her features, "Angela?"

"Amelie…" Angela knelt before her, holding out a hand. Gasping, Amelie launched herself into Angela's arms, making Reyes flinch in a sense of protectiveness. He looked around the room while Amelie began to cry into Angela's chest . No guards, no furniture, nothing but dust. They couldn't have kept her here all this time.

Angela rubbed Amelie's back, soothing her, "It's alright, Amelie, I am here."

Amelie gasped, "Gerard sent you?"

Angela smiled, "He sent us all. Let's take you home."

She helped the other woman stand, wrapping an arm around her waist as they warily left the large room. Just as they passed the first row of stone buildings towards the drop ship, they heard a mayday and a static yell from their pilot. Reyes heard the faint sound of ships landing, "Cover, now!"

Angela used her wings to fly Amelie to safety and the rest of them dodged behind the dilapidated buildings as the Talon agents began shooting. Amelie clung to Angela as they hid while the rest of them fought the agents.

Moira found Reyes in the fighting, "Use the upgraded death blossom!" Before he could reply, she continued, "I am aware it's in the testing stages but we cannot take them all down without it."

He snarled, "It could kill me, Moira!"

Moira rolled her eyes at him before turning to continue the fight, "It is a risk we have to take."

He watched Jesse lend Angela a hand as they got Amelie into the ship. The medic turned around, looking for Genji who wove between enemies, slicing as many as he could. But they just kept pouring out from the forest. When Angela and Genji disappeared into the forest, he knew what had to be done.

"Moira, get with Jesse and protect Amelie. Genji will know to warn Angela."

When he stood in the clearing, surrounded by countless enemies, he unleashed the Reaper. It was more power and control than he was ever comfortable with releasing before. And the Reaper relished the feeling. The death blossom was magnificent, waves of black smoke suffocating enemies as he blew them apart with endless weaponry. Reaper's voice came out of his mouth, "Die! Die! Die!" When he was done, smoke burned his eyes and he was standing in the middle of a pile of corpses. It looked like a bomb had gone off. The black wisps coming from below his feet continued trailing between the bodies, drinking their life essence. After a moment, it was like he regained a second wave of energy.

He walked with a stagger, finding himself in a collapsed building as the rain begin to fall from they gray sky. Faintly, he heard a voice, sounding strained and worried. Then he saw blue, nothing but bright neon blue blinding his vision.

Then everything cleared and Angela stood in front of him. She was soaked, her hair sticking to her face with rain, and the light in her wings was dimming, "Gabriel! Gabriel, what was that? Are you alright? Can you hear me?"

Her questions were rapid-fire and they didn't cease until his hands were on her, roughly pulling her towards him. She flinched and tensed in surprise, a soft gasp escaping her lips as Gabriel kissed her.

He faintly felt her arms around his waist, clinging to him in worry as he pulled her impossibly closer. His tongue was pressed to hers, an insistent need to devour her enveloping him. The Reaper wanted her. Reyes wanted her. He'd be damned if he let her fly away. He would break those wings if she tried.

He gripped the back of her head with one hand, the back of her thigh in the other. It raised slightly towards her ass and she jumped. He bit her lip teasingly and heard her whimper. Suddenly her hands were on his chest and she was breaking the kiss, looking at him like she'd just awoken from a dream.

He stared at her numbly, wondering if the Reaper was beginning to leak into her mind as well. Suddenly her eyes widened and she looked terrified, grasping his face in her hands, "What is happening to you?"

She looked like she wanted to cry and he released her like she'd burned him. Turning, he stalked into the drop ship. She trailed behind him after a moment, approaching his side as he grabbed his face.

He sat in his usual seat, head in his hands as she knelt by him. Amelie was placed in the back room, sleeping as Jesse closed the door. Genji came to the drop ship last, looking tense and distracted with something. Reaper had felt him nearby. It was entirely possible he caught their little show, which spurred Reaper on that much more.

He felt wisps of smoke leaking from between his fingers. After the drop ship lifted from the ground, pilot safely out of his hiding spot, Angela hotly stood and faced Moira, "What have you done to him?"

Moira's face was impassive, "Why, doctor, you saw for yourself. Not that it's any of your concern."

"It is my-" Angela cut herself off sharply, "you're going to kill him."

Reyes growled, clenching his head as hot stripes of pain crossed his brain. He heard Reaper cackle. He would blame it on the pain, but right there in front of everyone he reached for Angela. He cool fingers intertwined with his and she held her ground as he tried not to let the pain effect his strength. He didn't want to break her hand. "Shit," he grumbled.

Jesse and Genji remained stone silent, watching from the back of the room. Moira looked slightly interested at Reyes's show of weakness. Angela knelt down next to him, urging him to breathe as they continued the journey back to the Swiss HQ. It wouldn't be long now.

-0-

When they landed and Jesse helped Amelie to the medical wing, Angela tried leading Reyes there as well. Moira interjected, "He's my patient, Dr. Ziegler."

Angela scowled, "I'm the head of medical research and he's a top priority patient-"

"Moira's right. Just focus on Amelie, doc."

Angela stared at Reyes in confusion, "Gabriel-"

"The commander's spoken. Follow me, sir." Moira turned with a flip of her coat and Reyes shared a long look with Angela before following. She didn't recognize those eyes.

Angela felt a clench in her chest and hot tears threatened to spill, "Angela?" she heard Jesse say gently next to her.

She brushed off his concern, wiping the fear out of her eyes, "Just...don't. Amelie needs us."

When Amelie was checked over, Angela gave her a clean bill of health. Gerard had been by her side the whole time. Angela watched numbly as Amelie and Gerard embraced, sharing words of unshakable love.

She headed back to her office, changed back into scrubs, and picked up the blueprints of Gerard's new spine. Jesse came to her and tried to talk to her, tried to ask her what it was that Genji saw between them that made the cyborg so quiet, but he stopped the interrogation when Angela broke the empty teacup in her hands.

She gave her bleeding hand a dazed expression as Jesse found her first aid kit. He pressed some gauze to her wound, watching her with concerned eyes, "This is going to destroy you, Angela."

She didn't reply, vision blurred with unshed tears.


	8. Chapter 8

"Lena Oxton," Angela raised her eyes from the clipboard to the young cadet's face, "Welcome to Overwatch." The girl beamed at her, saluting quickly while Angela laughed, "No need dear. It's nice to finally meet you. You must be very proud, being the youngest initiate in our organization's history and an ace pilot at that."

Lena nodded, "Yes ma'am! Blimey, I've always wanted to meet you, Dr. Ziegler," she gestured towards Jack, who was watching the exchange with amusement, "I've always wanted to meet all of you."

Angela walked with Lena and Jack towards the engineering wing, where Torbjorn's team was putting the finishing touches on the OWX-01 Slipstream. Tracer gazed at the plane with love in her eyes, clasping her hands like the metal woo'd her. Jack grinned at Angela and she returned it, content in seeing such a free spirit grace Overwatch's halls.

She remembered faintly when that spirit was her. It made her frown a little. She felt Jack's hand on her shoulder and she smiled at him. He saw right through it, "Come on, Angela, let's show her what it can do."

Lena hopped in the Slipstream's seat, babbling about the various knobs and switches. Truthfully, Angela didn't know a thing about planes. Cybernetics were the closest things her knowledge got to aerial engineering and it was still far off, "Lena, please sit back."

The girl did as she was told, flushing slightly as Angela's hands pressed her against the seat. She strapped belts and wiring to the girl's jittering hands. She looked at Angela with slight worry in those doe eyes, "Dr. Ziegler, is it going to hurt or something?"

"Of course not, dear, but it is a prototype. My team will need to monitor your vitals very heavily during the duration of the test. We don't know enough about teleportation to know how it will affect the human body, but we are not anticipating any harm to come to you. I will not let any harm come to you."

Lena smirked, brows furrowed, "Right-o. When can we begin?"

Angela laughed, "Soon. We have a bit of paperwork for you before you can go flying."

Lena pouted, hopping out of the seat once Angela released her measured straps, "Of course! When-" Angela, Jack, and Lena all turned their heads at the sound of a strange roar and thumping coming from the back of the hangar and down the hallway, "Wha's that?"

Jack and Angela exchanged looks. Both blonde leaders turned to the Englishwoman, "Stay here."

Lena nervously smiled and saluted, choosing to poke around the hangar curiously rather than get in the way of...whatever that was.

-0-

The noise came from a gorilla. Angela watched through an unbreakable glass window as the creature was wrestled down with tasers and rope. Finally, Jack emerged from the room, visibly sweating. Angela clenched her fists, "I've been standing out here for an hour! What are you doing? You're hurting him!"

Jack clenched his jaw, "It was poking around the old Rome facility when Blackwatch picked it up. They wouldn't have caught it if Gabe wasn't there with his...abilities." He was nearly cut off by another angry roar.

"That's no reason to torture him in such a way. He's clearly a part of the Horizon Moon Colony. If we could only-"

"That colony killed every human on the Moon. How are we to know it won't try to do the same here?"

"Because this is an advanced military base. Really, Jack, must you be so-" they were interrupted by a shriek as the gorilla fainted with a crash to the ground, pinning one of the men's legs with him. Angela shoved around Jack, moving inside the room to assist the man in freeing his leg.

"Dr. Ziegler-" the man started but she stared him down.

"Get to the infirmary. Have your leg examined. And kindly do not return," she knelt down as the other men looked on, gently examining the gorilla. He was wearing some kind of armor, Horizon's logo emblazoned on it.

When Gabriel met up with the chaos, it only made things worse. Jesse rushed to her side, shaking his head, "Stay away from this thing, Angela-"

They heard Gabriel snarl at Jack behind them, "Why is she in there with it?"

Angela rolled her eyes, standing and leaving the room to stop this before he could start a fight with Jack, "Overwatch does not treat prisoners this way."

"Technically," Genji interjected unhelpfully, "Blackwatch does."

"Thank you for your input, Genji," Angela replied, not taking her eyes off a fuming Gabriel.

The Blackwatch commander scowled, "We don't know what that thing's capable of."

"Exactly," Angela replied coldly, "none of you knew. So instead of asking like normal human beings you resorted to setting the precedent of treating him like an animal."

"It is an animal," Jack replied, though there was no scorn in his tone unlike Gabriel's.

"Animals don't have reason and intellect. Horizon gorillas do. Which I am aware makes them just as dangerous as anyone else, but you've tasered him until he passed out. Now he will wake up scared and confused instead of just answering why he was there." After silence from all four men, Angela threw up her hands, "I've no time for this."

"Wait, Angela-" Jack called and Angela turned, despite the glare Gabriel was giving her, "I understand you are upset."

"You may be nearly twenty years older than me, Jack, but I am not a child," she said, sounding defeated, "If you need help medicating him, call me," she scowled at Gabriel, "not Moira, me . He belongs to Overwatch now. Keep Blackwatch out of it."

She knew she'd crossed some sort of invisible line, separating herself from Blackwatch like that, but it was a long time coming. She'd had enough of trying to mend things between the organizations. There was only so much she or Ana could do to try to make these grown men behave.

She stormed back to her office, turning on her computer. She typed up an order to have all the information Overwatch had on Horizon sent to her personally. Blackwatch was content with treating him like an animal, but she knew better.

-0-

"What do you mean she's just... gone ?" Angela blinked, trying to test that she hadn't gone completely insane from a lack of sleep.

The morning had been nothing special. She'd once again attempted to speak with the gorilla, but he sat with his back to the window. It was mostly a one-way conversation, with her voice drifting through the speaker towards him.

She told him about this new recruit they were testing a special project on and how excited she was. No details or names but perhaps enough to get him to open up to her. It didn't work. He sat still, picking at the soft food that had been brought for him. She opened a small hatch beneath the window, where they usually slipped the food tray in, and rolled him a jar of peanut butter. It wasn't something gorillas normally dieted on, but it was her own guilty pleasure, as she told him.

The jar hit him on the leg and he turned to it curiously. After he quickly opened it and devoured half of the jar, he gave her an odd look. She waved at him, smiling gently, "I'm Angela."

"Winston", the gorilla replied before turning back to his snack. Angela left him with that for now. It was small, but it was progress.

She knew she was running behind for the primary testing. Considering it was supposed to last hours, she hadn't been rushing for it. She'd placed her best staff on monitoring Lena's vitals and strapping her in. When she got to the lab, it was exactly three minutes after testing began and all three doctors looked pale and uncertain. She furrowed her brow, checking over the monitor, "She can't just be gone ."

"I'm afraid things went radio silent in…" the doctor checked the monitor, "exactly 2.56 seconds."

"So you can't find her," Angela concluded, paling in sudden realization of what had happened.

"She and the Slipstream...they're just missing."

She glanced up at the engineers who stood outside where the plane had 'taken off'. All of them looked confused, chattering on their headsets with shrugs and shaking heads. It seems Lena hadn't appeared at any of the testing points. Angela swallowed thickly, "Where's Jack?"

"Here," the man in question said, looking grim as Angela turned to face him. He panted as if he'd ran straight there from the other wing.

She looked him in the eye, suddenly at a loss for words. He shook his head, motioning her to follow him to his office. There he had monitors focused on every 'appearance' point Lena was supposed to arrive at. Visually, through infrared, and through her monitored vitals, nothing came. Angela clasped her hand over her eyes, suddenly dizzy.

Jack looked at her worriedly, "Angela-"

"I told her I wouldn't let any harm come to her."

He had no reply. They just stood there staring at each other while the moniters continued to display nothing.

-0-

Things came to a head at the end of the week, shortly after Lena disappeared, when Gerard and Amelie came to visit. Amelie was quiet, head practically on a swivel.

Reyes eyed her suspiciously, knowing what it looked like when someone was casing a place, but having no clue why Amelie of all people would be doing so. She hardly spoke, hand in Gerard's as he rolled down the hallway by her side. It had only been two weeks since she'd returned from her kidnapping, and Angela had hardly gotten a moment to spare with his cybernetic spine.

Gerard didn't seemed to mind, in pure bliss with his beloved by his side again. He and Amelie gave Reyes a good amount of shit, not bothering to hide their pointed questions about the lovely Dr. Ziegler. He answered as honestly as he dared, leveling them with glare when they so much as tiptoed into personal territory.

Gerard sipped from his wine glass, lovingly watching Amelie as she stared out the window of the conference room. Reyes sat on one of the leather chairs, slumped and arms crossed. Jesse and Genji were engaged in a game of paper football like they weren't both men in their late twenties.

Gerard gave Reyes an amused look, "When are you going to ask Dr. Ziegler to join our evenings?"

" For fuck's sake ," he groaned while Jesse burst out laughing.

"That'll be the day," the cowboy cackled while Genji stayed quiet, focusing intently on the paper football in his mismatched hands.

Amelie swirled the dark purple wine in the glass in her hand, staring out towards the window, "Not everyone wants to be as happy as we are, my love."

Gerard lazily raised his glass towards Reyes, "Even misery wants company, my friend."

"Come," Amelie purred, turning to place a hand on her husband's shoulder, "I would very much like to be alone with my husband this evening. Goodnight gentlemen."

Reyes watched with raised eyebrows as Gerard calmly followed his wife out of the conference room, to the lavish dorm they would be staying in for the night. He waved at the Blackwatch agents, "Until we meet again."

Jesse halfheartedly waved at him, going back to his paper football. Reyes watched suspiciously as Amelie drifted down the hallway. He listened to the whir of Gerard's wheelchair until it faded.

-0-

Reyes's room was a floor below where Gerard and Amelie stayed. Early in the morning hours, he first heard the screaming. Not bothering to change out of his t-shirt and track pants, he shadow stepped through the ceiling and appeared in front of the shrieking housekeeper.

She was paying too much attention to all the blood to notice he hadn't physically walked up to the room. He rushed past her, coming upon the once-white bed now stained ruby and brown with fresh and old blood. Gerard laid pale as a ghost in the bed, eyes closed as if he were sleeping stock-still.

But every drop of blood had been drained from the even slice across his neck.

He reached into his pocket, tapping Jack's number into his communicator numbly. The strike commander answered, "Jesus, Reyes, what the hell-"

"Gerard is dead," his voice came out hollow as he stared at the corpse of his longtime friend. His eyes darted to the other side of the bed, still pristine save for the crumpled sheets, "Amelie Lacroix is gone."

"She was…" Jack was shaking the sleepiness off of him, "she was taken right out of Overwatch?"

"Something like that," he replied faintly before hanging up.

He realized the housekeeper was still babbling incoherently in German when the security personnel headed by Ana arrived. The Egyptian woman paused, staring in horror at Gerard's body. She swallowed, nodding at a guard to the housekeeper, "Get her out of here. But keep her in your sight." She approached Reyes tentatively, "Gabe…"

He scowled, brushing off her concern, "Talon is getting smarter. We aren't keeping up anymore."

"Don't do this Gabe," Ana started, knowing precisely what he was going to do, "Gabe!" Her voice followed him as he stormed down the hallway, heading to wake his team.

-0-

"Blackwatch is suspended," the UN representative stated coldly, speaking only to Jack with Ana and Angela in the room, "they're operating outside of Overwatch and the United Nations's control. We cannot have them causing another international incident. Gerard Lacroix's death was the breaking point." Angela clenched her jaw, afraid she might slip and say something harsh. Gerard believed in Blackwatch and they were shutting it down before his death was even investigated fully.

Gerard's family had buried him in a private ceremony, getting it over with as quickly as they could. From what she knew through Amelie, they didn't much approve of his time in Overwatch. Amelie …

Angela's face crumpled and she pressed her fist to her lips to stifle the sob. Stolen again, in front of her dead husband, right from the Swiss HQ. Was nowhere safe anymore?

She excused herself lamely, making a beeline for the door. She didn't care what the UN representatives had to say. They weren't speaking to her, anyways. She found relief in her office, where she immediately gathered the blueprints of Gerard's cybernetic spine and tossed them haphazardly onto the floor. She sat against the wooden desk, staring angrily at the monitors above her desk that displayed the news headlines.

Gabriel, Jesse, Genji, and Moira were nowhere to be found when Jack had to deliver the news. The other Blackwatch agents seemed to guard their leaders' whereabouts and reacted like snarling caged animals when Overwatch tried to step in.

Only Ana knew what they were doing. The sniper walked in to Angela's office, a grim look on her face. She came in just as Angela pulled up an Italian news article detailing the way Blackwatch exposed itself.

Ana sighed, closing Angela's office door behind her, "He went to Gerard's home in Paris."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I know you're worried. And I know you won't tell Jack."

Angela turned to face the second-in-command, "So we're keeping things from Jack now?"

"Angela," Ana frowned, "you should try to leave while you can."

Angela stared at her, "The time has long passed."

"You cannot let what Gabe means to you ruin you. Get out of Overwatch. Find somewhere where you can help people directly. Find somebody else to love. Things are aren't going to end well."

"Don't presume you can scare me away. Overwatch is a part of me. I've put years of my life and my work into this organization. I'll be damned if I see it burn."

Ana grimaced, "When he finds out they suspended Blackwatch...things are never going to be the same…"

"I know…" Angela replied in a near whisper, "I know."

-0-

She was sleeping in her arms on her desk, jolted awake by the sound of storming footfalls towards her door, "Wh-"

The door opened without a knock, revealing a literally steaming Gabriel. He shut the door behind him with an eerie calmness that was opposite of the drumming in Angela's chest. She felt her adrenaline spike when Gabriel looked at her like that. She wasn't completely sure about the kind of experiments Moira placed on him, but whatever they were, they created something inside him. Something that was looking at her like he wanted to devour her.

She placed her palms on the desk, standing up slowly as he watched, like a curious animal. Silently, she tilted her head, waiting for him to say something. He looked like a wreck. Dirt smeared across his face and hands, smoke lingering on his skin. She could smell the charcoal from here.

After a moment, he spoke, "We found Talon agents in Gerard's home."

She frowned, "Did you interrogate them?"

"Something like that."

"Gabriel, torture has proven time and time again to be an ineffective-"

"I'm aware, doc."

"Stop," her voice came out harsh, and she stopped herself to take a breath, "stop calling me that."

"Angela," he approached her, his skin beginning to dull in color as the smoke became darker, "they've suspended Blackwatch."

"I know," she sighed, nails digging into her arms as she crossed them, "Ana asked me to leave."

"Leave?"

"She seemed afraid. I've never...I've never seen her afraid."

"Are you going to leave?" the smoke around them seemed to anger at his words.

She shook her head, "No, no I can't."

"Good..." his voice was a purr, soothing her nerves. She watched him approach, completely melting when he took her into his arms. She could feel the strength in him and he smelled of gunpowder. It soothed her when it should have disgusted her. She was still covered in dirt, but she pressed closer. He'd never done this before...this affection. It gave her heart some semblance of hope that made her hate herself. She heard his words, slightly corrupted by...something else, "I'll never let you go."

She broke away from his arms suddenly and turned towards the monitors on her wall. The news story of Blackwatch in Venice was still displayed on a screen. Behind her, she only heard silence. Then it was like a breeze hit her skin and she felt goosebumps raise on her arms. Looking down, she saw swirling black tendrils encircle her forearm. Despite the fluttering in her chest, she wasn't afraid. She was too numb to be afraid, "What do you want?"

"You know what I want," Gabriel said in that...other voice.

She grimaced, "I'm talking to Gabriel."

"I am Gabriel," the voice continued and the tendrils on her arm tightened slightly.

Whirling around to face him, she glared, "Don't touch me."

Gabriel's face was blank. Suddenly, his eyes glazed over with a strange blackness before he literally turned to smoke before her eyes. He drifted into the floor, reappearing behind her, "I'm in a good mood. I've fed and I'm happy, no need to sour it."

"Fed?" she questioned, scientific curiosity betraying her.

"You look beautiful, Angie."

"Gabe…" she suddenly felt terrified, grabbing at his arms with a frantic desperation, "are you still in there?"

He blinked, irises a normal hazel again, "Angela?"

"I already lost Amelie…" she pursed her lips, but couldn't contain the sob.

It was like a switch and he was Gabriel again, looking at her with confusion as she clutched to his arms with a trembling strength, "Hey...hey…"

But the relief at seeing him and not that thing using him like a puppet again was too much for her aching heart and she pushed up on her toes to kiss him, wrapping her arms around his neck like the first time. He pressed back, hesitant but there and it was enough. She broke it, pulling her lips away but not letting go, "I can't lose you too, Gabriel."

"You're not-" he seemed to choke on the words, hands placed on her back.

"I can't. Do you understand?" she grew desperate, teary-eyed and practically begging at this point. What could she do? What could she do?

"I understand," he sighed, giving in to her.

She nodded, opting to let go but finding she couldn't. She wanted him, unhealthily so for someone who was grieving. She should have obeyed her own warning signs, but instead she pulled him into another kiss. His facial hair scratched wonderfully against her face and she loosened her arms so that she was touching his face, his neck, the short hair on the back of his head under the fabric of his beanie.

He leaned into the second kiss, one hand placed on her desk while the other gripped her hip. She opened her mouth and let him explore, let him linger on her tongue. He nudged her back and she sat on the desk's surface as they fumbled with the buttons of her blouse. She thanked every being in the sky that she wasn't wearing her catsuit today. She shrugged off her lab coat as he continued with the buttons. Her skirt rode up slightly on her thighs and the friction wasn't enough. She squirmed as he continued, running strong hands along her delicate ribs. She didn't care that his hands were dirty, staining her clothes.

When she reached for him, grasping at the straps to his chest plate, he stopped, "Angela-"

"Don't do this again. Don't run away from this."

He swallowed, looking slightly terrified. She halted at this, surprised. She never thought it was possible for him to actually look scared, "Angela, I don't want to do this."

She released him and balled her hands into fists, sharply looking away, "If you didn't want me in the first place you should have said so."

"Look at me," he snapped, waiting until she did, "Listen, I fucking want you, alright? More than I could ever tell you and we're not going to discuss the terrible ramifications of how I feel about you. It's not about me…" he spoke the next words softly, like he was afraid they would be heard, "It's about him."

She felt a chill up her spine, realizing exactly what he meant, "The...other."

"The other," he nodded, swallowing thickly, "He can't have you, Angela. Not you."

She furrowed her brows, knowing arguing was hopeless, "I don't want him."

Gabriel straightened, an air of hostility overcoming him, "Then there's nothing more to say."

The other voice was back, taking over Gabriel like a demon. She glared at him, blouse unbuttoned and hair disheveled, "Get out."

Gabriel smirked, running his fingers lightly from her collarbone to just above where her bra showed beneath the blouse, Damn her, she let him. She still wanted Gabriel's body against her own, but it wouldn't do either of them any good if she gave in to the thing possessing him. She turned her head, not looking Gabriel in the eye. He pulled his hand away from her, and she burned from his touch, "See you around."

When he disappeared, turning to smoke and flowing out of her office, she let out a shudder followed by a sob. Angrily wiping her face, she moved to button her blouse and search the floor for her lab coat.

She said she couldn't lose him like Amelie, but she was afraid Gabriel was already gone.


	9. Chapter 9

Blackwatch was still suspended on paper, but they rarely ever did anything on paper. Moira continued her experiments, hovering in Angela's medical wing like a house fly. Genji often trained and pushed the boundaries of Overwatch's training simulations. He rarely spoke to her, if at all. Jesse was gone more often than not, hidden in some Talon-infested country looking for Amélie or the people that murdered Gerard. Nothing ever came of his searching.

Reyes disappeared for weeks at a time, not reporting where he went or what he was doing. He kept away from everyone, Blackwatch included, and Angela didn't know how to talk to him anymore.

The small Halloween party she helped Torbjorn decorate was surprisingly domestic. They all wore costumes, and she took a picture with Torbjorn at Ana's insistence. Gabriel burst into the room during Reinhardt's story of the Witch and her Dreaded Servant and Reinhardt ended up breaking the refreshments table, spilling glass and glowing green punch everywhere. She'd complimented Gabriel's handmade costume, teasingly suggesting he should make their uniforms. He grinned sheepishly and waved her off, spending much of the party with Jesse. They talked in the corner, two men dressed in dark leather and cloth, discussing secrets. Ana hobbled over on her fake peg-leg and handed Angela the Polaroid of her and Torbjorn. She grabbed an orange sharpie and wrote a little message for her friend who was kept away from the festivities: Happy Halloween, Winston!

Jack kept close to his cup of spiked punch, keeping away from Gabriel and Jesse, but still active for the party. He was slightly inebriated and she could say the same for herself when she asked him to dance. He swayed on his feet, uncomfortable in the boots of his Evel Knievel costume, and laughed when she told him not to hurt his ankle, "Relax Ange, you don't have to be a doctor for tonight."

"I'm not a doctor, I'm a witch," she pouted from below her pointed hat, missing Jack's meaning completely.

Reinhardt and Torbjorn were busy picking up what was left of the table and Ana watched comfortably from the couch. Angela couldn't see Jesse from where she was dancing with Jack, but she could feel Gabriel's eyes on her. She pointedly ignored the feeling of his dark gaze on Jack's hands, where they rested on her hip just above the slit of her skirt, where her thighs showed.

The night was overwhelmingly normal. Happy. Strange. It was like an alternate reality where they were regular adults and their jobs didn't tear them all apart. She asked Jesse to help her to her room, not trusting herself around Jack or Gabriel. She was lonely and the night was far too happy, it made her mind swirl more than the alcohol. Jesse quietly led her to her dorm, wisely not daring to ruin the mood by bringing up Gabriel's jealousy or where he'd been all this time. She didn't bother to ask.

Later, she would think fondly of that night as she put away her treasured witch costume. In another life, she could have just been a normal woman. A young doctor enjoying the night with her coworkers. Enjoying the distant want in Jack's eyes and the heat in Gabriel's stare when he took in how the costume hugged her hips and amplified her chest. But that wasn't who she was or who they were. She couldn't enjoy the attention, because it would only lead down a path of heartbreak. Still, knowing her own feelings for Gabriel, she found that she yearned for him to just...get over himself. Stop the nonsense and the secrets and all the torment he was hell-bent on keeping inside. If he would just let her, she could love him. Maybe she couldn't ever put out the fire inside him, but it would mean everything if he'd just let her try.

She sighed. She couldn't save people from themselves. She knew that by now. Running her thumb along the orange of her costume, she considered how the color really complimented her complexion. She thought of the new Valkyrie suit she was working on with Winston and thought perhaps it was time for a change from the blue.

Winston grew to trust her. She found that peanut butter and bananas was the way to his heart, though he was slightly stubborn with his banana cravings. After much interrogation and begging on her part to Jack, he was willing to let Winston work with her in the lab, under armed supervision. He wasn't pleased she was letting him touch cybernetics, but she didn't care for Jack's feelings on the matter. She was willing to put her own technology in Winston's hands, and was pleased to see that he was highly intelligent and more than capable with technology.

He told her about the Moon colony, Horizon, and how the gorilla uprising had gutted him and killed the scientist he'd come to love as a father. His interest in Overwatch was encouraged by the scientist and he'd one day dreamed of coming to Earth and changing the world for the better. That's what he was doing in the Rome facility, trying to investigate what had happened. She'd called him a friend and he gave her a sharp-toothed grin, acknowledging that she was much like the man that had raised him. They worked together on her Valkyrie, improving it beyond what she'd thought possible.

-0-

The Swiss HQ had been on high alert since Gerard was murdered and Amélie was kidnapped. Additional security was installed, including sensors and cameras. An entire new crew was hired specifically to monitor any suspicious activity. The base truly felt cold and military now. Angela argued relentlessly against being monitored by technology and strange men, but Jack insisted it was for her safety.

When she'd leveled him with a glare, he slammed a heavy hand on his desk and looked up to her, cobalt eyes beginning to age with fine wrinkles, "Overwatch is no longer safe and I refuse to allow you to be at risk. I cannot stop that in combat zones, but I can in the Swiss HQ. Even if you hate me for it."

She didn't have a reply to that one.

Later that day, Angela noticed something was off when her vision began to swim. She clasped a cool hand to her forehead and a nurse assisting her with her blood samples looked at her worriedly, "Dr. Ziegler are you alright?"

She shook her head, blaming her fatigue, "It's nothing. Let us, continue."

She was in her lab in the late afternoon when she heard a faint clicking, followed by the hum of what sounded like electricity. Goosebumps spread across her arms and she rubbed them, shuddering. Quickly, she closed the door and ignored any remaining noise. Generators , she nodded, it was only the generators .

Finally, it became more than clicks and hums. Much, much more . She was walking down the empty hallway towards the medical wing when none other than Lena Oxton appeared before her. The girl looked disheveled and winded, frantically waving her arms, "Dr. Ziegler!"

She took a step back, shocked, "Lena? How- what are you-"

"Can't- stop- hel- doc- ti-" the image of Lena flashed before her, skipping and fuzzing out.

Snapping from her shock, Angela took a step forward and made to reach for Lena. The girl squeaked, buzzing and flickering away. She appeared behind Angela and the doctor whirled to face her.

As she began to call out for Lena, the lights of the hallway flickered and buzzed, until one of the fluorescent exploded just above her head. She quickly turned away from the falling glass. When the lights returned to mostly normal, Lena was gone again.

Hands still covering her head, Angela looked around with wide eyes, "Lena? Lena!"

She'd hardly noticed the alarm that had sounded until she was suddenly overwhelmed by Gabriel's presence. He was standing in front of her, more real to her than he'd been in months, grabbing her by the shoulders, "What the hell happened?"

She pushed back from him, shaking her head, "Lena's alive! I have to find Winston-"

"For the love of-" Gabriel cursed over the alarm, "Jack's still letting you work with it?"

"Yes," she took another step back, "and I'm going to find him."

"Like hell you are-"

"What are you doing here, Gabriel?" she wanted to sound frustrated, impatient, but she only sounded sad.

He looked confused by her question, before realizing what she meant, "Nothing."

"It's always nothing. I have to find Winston."

"Jesus, Angela-"

"Angela! Are you alright?" Jack appeared, rounding the corner and nearly running her down. She felt Gabriel's glare on her back when she turned to Jack and he clasped her shoulders.

She nodded, taking a step back from Jack's touch, "Jack, Lena's alive. I don't know how, but I have a theory how to...stop what's happening to her cells. But I need Winston-"

"You're letting her work with the monkey-" Gabriel snarled from behind her.

"Gabe, this is hardly the time," Jack glared back at the Blackwatch commander and turned to Angela, "He's in his room. Meet him in the lab. We'll call him to you," she nodded quickly and avoided Gabriel's eyes as she left down the hallway.

She tried not to think about the dangers of leaving Gabriel and Jack alone.

-0-

Winston rubbed his eyes, shaking off the shock. Angela looked worriedly at him. Lena had appeared again, for the sixth time, always finding Winston or Angela but rarely staying. She was beginning to look more and more weathered. Angela could tell she was scared.

They stared at the prototype, placed in the middle of the lab's work table. Torbjorn had double checked the cybernetics of the chest piece, but this was purely Winston's genius. Horizon had many different branches, and Winston was able to hack into and find the research they did on time and space manipulation. There was no guarantee it would help, and there was no guarantee it wouldn't kill Lena.

Still, they had to try. Anything was better than the hellish reality Lena was stuck in. Winston kept the chronal accelerator on him at all times, just waiting for the moment Lena appeared again.

Finally the chance came when Winston was working on the Valkyrie with Angela. In the middle of the lab, they heard the tell-tale buzzing and Winston immediately grabbed the chest piece. Before Lena even had a chance to get a word out, Winston hurled himself towards her, shoving the chronal accelerator against her chest. She gasped, losing wind from the impact, and the straps of the chest piece quickly snapped around her back and shoulders as she retained her physical form.

The chronal accelerator cast her in a bright blue light, powering on with a soft hum. Lena's body began to tremble as she slowly became whole again. She was still shaking, in complete stock when the energy finally settled.

After a moment where Angela and Winston stared in silence, Lena blinked and glanced down at the accelerator on her chest. She glanced back up, tears in her wide eyes. She looked at Winston and whimpered a soft, "Thank you."

Winston nodded, swallowing thickly. Angela slowly approached her, "Lena, are you alright?"

"I'm whole again," Lena hiccuped then immediately launched herself into Angela. She wrapped her in a tight hug, like a child would give their mother. Her whole body trembled and Angela rubbed her back.

"There, there," Angela pressed close to the younger woman, "you're alright now. I'm so sorry, Lena. You're alright." She gave Winston a look and he seemed to get the idea, leaving to find Jack. The armed guards waiting outside the room didn't know what had happened until Winston opened the door, revealing Angela with a crying young cadet in her arms.

-0-

2066: A few months later. One year before the fall of Overwatch.

Angela clapped politely, smiling at the scene of Lena jumping and twirling in celebration of Winston's official induction to Overwatch. Lena and Ana had gone through the trouble of making a banner, hanging it in the background.

Media from all around the world were at the scene, attracted by the idea of a Horizon gorilla joining Overwatch, and many photos were taken of the group. Winston, dressed in his large Overwatch shirt, grinned widely as he held up his certificate for the photos. Lena jumped and twirled, zipping to and fro across the party. The press could hardly catch a photo of the excited cadet.

Ana saluted, a slight sarcastic twinkle in her eyes that Jesse caught and laughed at. Reinhardt posed like the party was his own, showing his muscles for the camera. He bragged to the press that Winston and he were evenly matched in physical strength and that they were both testaments to their species.

She grinned, shaking her head at Reinhardt. It had been a long time since she'd seen him. More often than not, he was part of the vanguard on the front lines. He'd spent a great amount of the last few years in Russia. Much of eastern Europe was still recovering from the Omnic Crisis, though it had been decades since the conflict had ended.

Torbjorn tried to act as mediator for the event, chiding Lena for over-exerting himself. To say the chronal accelerator made him nervous was an understatement. For a man with a giant red claw for an arm, he seemed to act the most normal of all of them.

Jack and Gabriel were there, of course. Acting commanders at a press event. Though Blackwatch was still 'suspended', Gabriel was expected to play the same politics as before. Unfortunately, this was Gabriel Reyes, and he pointedly turned his back on every photo taken. He was being abrasive with his distaste and distrust for Winston. It didn't seem to bother the gorilla, but it soured Angela considerably.

Winston had saved Lena Oxton, helped import Horizon research to Overwatch, and helped design the new Valkyrie suit she was currently wearing. She didn't have the wings on at the moment, saving them for her official public reveal of the suit.

For now, she wore her black catsuit with the orange and white uniform over it, skirts flowing between her thighs, just above her heavy boots.

Genji approached her almost shyly, though she couldn't see his face beneath his helm. She'd helped Torbjorn design his new armor and Genji had looked at it like it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. He'd held the helm like it was precious, looking at her with soft irises that were just slightly less red, "Thank you. For everything, Dr. Ziegler."

He said her name like a prayer and she had to break from the moment, giving him a shaky smile. He focused on the helm and the new armor, replacing his color schemes of Blackwatch reds and blacks to a soft, silvery metal and neon green.

"Dr. Ziegler, I hope you are well."

"Genji, it is nice to see you. How is the training with Lena?"

"She is very capable, must more efficient at fighting than my previous sparring partners. I must admit, I feel more...fulfilled training as an Overwatch agent than Blackwatch. It seems things were beginning to weigh on me."

"Are you happier?" she asked softly, knowing Genji battled with many inner demons.

He quieted, silent until he shook his head after a moment, "No. I am not."

She frowned, eyebrows creasing in worry, "Genji-"

"Ah, do not worry, Dr. Ziegler. I feel that the first step is admitting the problem. I would not have done so in Blackwatch," he seemed to lift his eyes, looking over her shoulder at Jesse as the cowboy leaned against a wall. Though she still couldn't see his face, she could tell Genji was worried, "I feel that Blackwatch is not good for people."

"What do you mean?" she started, but Genji shook his head. He was unwilling to admit it, but she knew. Moira and Gabriel . They were changing Blackwatch. They were changing themselves.

She turned to look at Gabriel, still brooding darkly in the corner, far away from the press and their cameras. Genji nodded in farewell and went to stand with Jesse as the gunslinger chatted with Ana about ammo types.

Angela was joined by Jack, who looked happily at Lena as she bounced on the balls of her feet. She grinned sheepishly at Torbjorn's scolding and Reinhardt waved off his friend's behavior, telling Lena to have fun. Lena zipped through time and appeared by Winston, cheering and hollering at her best friend as he laughed and shook his head.

Jack sighed, "I'm going to give her the call sign Tracer. Think she'll like it?"

Angela smiled, still watching Lena, "She'll love it. She's more than ready." She glanced across the room, to where Jesse stood. He tipped his hat at her before slipping out of the room and away from the party. A sign he was leaving the country again and wasn't going to tell her anything. She frowned and Jack caught it.

"Don't worry about him."

"I'm not," she lied, shrugging her shoulders, "no need to be bothered."

Jack laughed hollowly, "You're always bothered." She bristled, which sparked a more genuine laugh out of the strike commander.

Across the room from them, Gabriel Reyes watched. And the Reaper stirred.

-0-

What is McCree doing in London? Jack had asked him, and he avoided answering the question. What Jack didn't need to know, he simply didn't need to know. But Jack was smart, smarter than he was given credit for, and could read Reyes like a book at times.

He glared at the strike commander, waiting for Jack to break his gaze. They turned back to the monitors displaying the scenes of what was supposed to be the celebration of Turing Green SW0. It was supposedto be an opening of an omnic city that would help sooth human-omnic relations in London. Instead, this terrorist group, the Null Sector, whom Reyes and Jesse had been trying to locate for months, appeared and nearly took down the Shambali leader Mondatta.

Reyes cursed under his breath, seeing the once beautiful celebration and the city that was hosting it now in flames. Nearly a month since Null Sector had taken over and Jack was still held back by red tape from the United Nations. That was, until Jesse had reported in from London, detailing the deaths and destruction that Overwatch was ignoring by not going there.

Jack furrowed his brows, exchanging a look with Ana. She let out a breath, nodding once. She'd already agreed to what Jack was about to say. His shoulders seemed to weigh heavy as he turned to Reyes, "We're going to send a team."

"This isn't a mission for Overwatch agents."

"Then it's a good thing I'm not sending just any Overwatch agents."

He didn't want to lose it in front of Ana, spill his guts like that even when both she and Jack clearly knew , but he barely held back a snarl when he realized who Jack was referring to, "Seriously?"

"The decision's already been made. My decision. Mercy, Tracer, Reinhardt, and Torbjorn. It's Tracer's city. She's got a personal stake in King's Row. Mercy can help the wounded on a larger scale than all our combat medics combined, and Torbjorn and Reinhardt are able to provide defensive offence. It's the most ideal group for the situation. They've been informed, save for Tracer."

Only minutes later, Lena approached Jack's office as Gabriel stormed out. He didn't spare her a glance.

-0-

Angela, dressed in her original Valkyrie suit of blues and soft whites, stood in the fiery courtyard of King's Row with soot on her face. The new suit wasn't quite ready for the field yet, and she couldn't take any risks on a mission like this. She listened to Gabriel's rough voice in her ear, detailing names, places, things they should watch out for. He spoke under the guise of 'Blackwatch intelligence', but Angela knew Jesse was hiding somewhere in London. She sighed, feeling on edge and relaxed all at once. Gabriel spoke like a commander, like everything was normal.

They'd managed to clear King's Row of Null Sector, helping the wounded as they went. She'd congratulated Lena, proud to serve at her side for her first mission. She knew how much this meant to the cadet.

As the rode in the drop ship away from the London fires, she placed a gloved hand on Lena's back, comforting her, "We're going to end this. All this suffering. Overwatch will end it."

Lean looked at her with a small light of hope in her eyes, but it was enough for Angela, "I want to be angry and afraid. Maybe I am. The Second Omnic Crisis and we were the first Overwatch mission in it. Unsanctioned, too. The UN's gonna have Jack's arse for that. But...I think we're doing good. And that's all that matters, right? That's all that's got to matter."

She nodded, inspired slightly by Lena's unwavering love for Overwatch, "We're going to end this, just like we ended it before."

"That's when Reyes was commander."

She frowned, uncomfortable, "Yes, but that was a long time ago." They never talked about when the first Omnic Crisis ended under Strike Commander Reyes. Jack, Ana, Reyes, none of them ever spoke of how Reyes was quickly pushed aside while the UN promoted Jack. It was a dangerous subject, even 23 years later.

"Jack's commander now. But I believe in him. He wouldn't have sent us if he didn't know what he was doing. He's going to let us save the world, even if the UN doesn't want us to, isn't he?"

She wasn't sure how far Jack would push against the UN. He wasn't the one that did that. Gabriel was. Wanting to comfort Lena, she nodded, looking out the window, "Jack's going to help us end this, Lena. We have to trust him."

She grinned, successfully cheered up. She bounced over to Reinhardt, asking him about the armor he used in battle. She'd never gotten to see it in action before King's Row. As the German happily delved into stories, Torbjorn turned to look at Angela.

She saw the worry in her old friend's eyes. They reflected her own feelings.


	10. Chapter 10

The world was twisted into a dark room. He didn't remember falling asleep. Reyes felt weights under his knuckles, discomforting him. A pressure throbbing between each one. A strange swelling under his jaw and on his right cheekbone. Suddenly it was like he'd been kicked. Grimacing, he doubled over and fell into the water. Hazel eyes looked down, confused. _Water? This…this wasn't water._

He stared into the inky blackness. There was no reflection. He felt another pain in his stomach, jerking in surprise. His face suddenly hurt. He reached up, his palm coming back black with a liquid that smelled of metal.

At the sight of it, his world shifted and suddenly he heard shouting. Ana was yelling, strong hands and nails digging into his skin as she attempted to pull him away from Jack.

The Strike Commander's lip was busted and he was fighting Reyes off. The Blackwatch Commander was on top of him, attempting to pound him into dust. His face grew blank, eyes hard and cold as she calmly stood from straddling Jack. Ana looked up at him, horror marking her features as she knelt by the blonde.

Reyes panted and said nothing. Ana removed her communicator from her pocket and radioed for backup. Jack groaned on the floor.

When help arrived, it was in the form of nameless Overwatch agents Reyes had never met. They paused, hesitating for a moment before raising their guns. Reyes growled, Reaper leaking into his voice, " **Are you sure you want to do that?** "

"Reyes, don't," Ana hissed, standing between him and the soldiers.

Reyes's pupils shifted, black leaking into the hazel, " **Wouldn't be worth the energy.** " He made his way for the exit, passing the soldiers wordlessly. Because of Ana they would not die today.

-0-

Ana found him later as he was washing his face in the bathroom of his dorm. She'd knocked and he let her in wordlessly. He pressed a towel to his bleeding nose, black blood staining the white fabric. Ana furrowed her brows, eye tattoo crinkling with concern. Or maybe that was just the wrinkles that began to show. He suddenly felt terribly old.

"When did your blood become black?"

That was the golden question. He shrugged, tossing the ruined towel in the trash, "I don't know."

"Reyes," she crossed her arms, concern radiating off her posture, "do you remember what happened?"

He looked at himself in the mirror, noting that the usual reddish tone under his olive skin was beginning to dull and fade. Likely because of the black blood. He looked like he was dying, "No."

He heard her take a stuttered breath, "Jack tried to bar you from the field entirely. You were on him like an animal."

His fists clenched, radiating with anger, "He's taking everything from me."

"You need to relax, stop yourself-"

"What, like _you_ do? Your goddamned daughter is 26 years old and you haven't seen her in months." He saw the jab hit its mark and continued on, "You instead choose to sit by Jack's side like a loyal pet."

"Reyes..." she swallowed, hurt and anger in her tone.

"Mind your damn business and stick to Overwatch personnel. I'm not yours to save."

She frowned, looking at him with sad, dark eyes, "You let this monster inside you and now it speaks for you."

"Nobody speaks for me. Get out," he snarled.

"We were friends once, you and I. All of us, with Jack." She stared at him. He didn't reply. "Do not cast yourself in darkness. Jack has faith you will see the light but I know what you are capable of," she said before leaving him alone in the dark apartment. No light save for the one above his sink.

-0-

They fought again two days before the ceremony. Reyes had very firmly declined the invitation to go, instead replying that he should give it to an _Overwatch_ agent.

"You _are_ Overwatch!" Jack yelled, slamming his hands on his desk.

"Overwatch is _nothing_ to me," he glared. The heated exchange ended somewhere between a yelling Reinhardt's shield and Reyes choking Jack against his desk. Torn documents and broken glass littered the office floor. A UN member came upon the scene, disappointment in his brown eyes. He notified Jack that Reyes was to attend the ceremony or he would be benched from the field entirely and charged for attacking his superior officer.

Of course, Jack received no punishment.

They looked at Reyes like a wild bull in a glass shop. Not an _will_ it happen, but a _when_ will it happen. He held hate in his heart for the solemn expressions on their faces. Ana refused to speak to him, having said her piece. She was waiting for Reyes to repair things with her, something he had no interest in doing.

-0-

The air was cool and crisp, a perfect night for an awards ceremony. The International Justice Committee, or IJC, was celebrating its establishment by awarding key Overwatch members with shining gold medals. They were all dressed in black suits with ribbon pins, like soldiers. The getup looked strange on her, she thought to herself, she was no soldier. She was placed by Jack for the photo of the IJC leaders shaking hands, omnic and human working together.

Angela looked at her teammates. Lena, Jack, Winston, Reinhardt, Ana, Jesse and Reyes. All dressed the same and all frowning. They were all miserable, lost in the discomfort of a stuffy celebration and the uncertainty it would bring. The IJC was a direct result of Gabriel's actions in Venice. It was meant to monitor Overwatch, make sure they behaved like loyal soldiers.

Angela stared across from her place to Gabriel, noting how he seethed with anger. Her doctor's eyes noted he hadn't been sleeping well. He didn't look her in the eye. None of them did.

Afterwards, she listened calmly to the omnic diplomats suggestions on her work, fingering the gold medal around her neck as she listened. The thing felt heavy and useless against her skin.

Jack broke her away from the omnic, asking to borrow the good doctor. She smiled at him, "Your lip looks better."

Jack shrugged and she realized she shouldn't have brought it up, "Your nanites worked their magic."

She looked at him with concern, wondering if he was doing alright mentally. That, her doctor's eyes couldn't see, "Jack…"

"It's alright, Angela. Let's just...have a nice night."

The night was nice. She kept to Jack, worry creasing her features. Lena and Winston danced awkwardly, amusing and offending the event's guests. Lena's laughter echoes across the ballroom, warming Angela slightly. Such a soul didn't belong in a military organization. She looked at Ana and Reinhardt, two old soldiers standing side by side. He seemed to be whispering to her, attempting to cheer her up, but something clearly bothered the Egyptian woman. When Angela followed Ana's line of sight, she knew what that something was.

Jesse and Gabriel stood away from the crowd, distant and arms crossed. They spoke in low tones. She clenched her jaw when she saw the look on Jesse's face. He was leaving again. Warning Gabriel before he slipped out. Gabriel was making no attempt to stop him. A hand on her arm stopped her angry trek towards the cowboy and she turned to Jack, who was shaking his head.

"We can't control them, Angela."

"Control them? What are you-"

"You know what I mean."

She paused, pain in her eyes, "Why do they have to be different than us now? I thought we- I thought we were all Overwatch. We're all on the same side."

Jack didn't bother hiding the anger and distaste in his tone as he looked up and his gaze met Gabriel, "They're different than us because they want it to be that way. Jesse included. There's nothing you can do to stop them. There's-" Jack paused, swallowing, "there's nothing I can do. Not yet."

"Not yet? Jack, what are you-" Jack pulled her into a hug, pressing against her. It was calm, but she felt the fear and anger in his body. She wrapped her arms around him, shock and concern on her face.

Jack's voice was barely above a whisper, "Something's coming, Angela. I need to know you're on my side."

She pulled back to look at him, "Jack-"

"I need to know."

She sighed, shoulders slumping as she gripped Jack's arms to steady him, "Always. I'm always on your side."

He seemed to relax, like he hadn't completely expected her to say that. She couldn't help but feel her heartbeat quicken. She knew...she knew he and Gabriel had been fighting. _How could she not know?_ But the look in Jack's eyes said something more. She pursed her lips, trying to put on a brave face, "We'll talk more later."

She spent the rest of the evening with Reinhardt, watching the older man as he helplessly watched a miserable Ana. Nothing he could say would cheer her. Angela turned her head and saw Gabriel standing in the same spot against the back wall, in the shadows. Jesse was nowhere in sight.

-0-

Hours later, Reyes unbuttoned the stifling collared shirt one by one, looking in the mirror for any change to his skin tone. Nothing more since his blood went black. He'd opted for asking Moira what was happening, but the scientist just waved him off, "Just a side effect."

He grumbled at the mirror, scars in his face creasing with his scowl, "I'm not supposed to get side effects."

Still, there could have been something worse. His physical form didn't distort unless he, or Reaper, wanted it to.

Speaking to the... _thing_ inside him made him feel like a lunatic. Like a lifetime of war and terror finally made him snap. Reaper rumbled inside his chest, not unlike the feeling of a rapid beating heart. Only more violent. More sentient.

He thought of the ceremony. How he was forced to attend a celebration of Blackwatch's downfall. He couldn't work with some piece of shit justice committee trying to red-tape him. That's not the way he worked and they were going to easily lose great amounts of intel because of it.

The UN forced him to go. They wanted those pictures of the Blackwatch Commander receiving a gold medal in honor of his great fuck-up. He grumbled, unbuttoning the cuffs of the shirt, and thought of Angela. She'd watched him throughout the evening, but stuck to Jack for most of it. He didn't know what Jack had said to her, but he saw the way the Strike Commander touched her. That was the touch of a man who wanted comfort and consolidation. _Why did he want it from Angela?_

Another rumble of laughter in his chest. He looked in the mirror as he continued undressing, "What?"

" **You're jealous.** "

He glared at his image in the mirror, at not-his-voice coming out of his face, "Leave it."

" **Why? It won't leave you.** "

He turned away from his reflection, running a hand through his hair. Only it was shaved short and only stubble touched his fingers. Angrily, he changed to joggers and a shirt, ignoring as Reaper cackled. He could almost see the damned thing, like a split-second shadow in the corner of his eye.

His vision swam as he felt Reaper's claws dance along his arms and shoulders. A tingling, painfully numb feeling crawled up his spine. He shoved the beanie on his head. Whirling again and to nothing in particular, he yelled, "What do you want?!"

Reaper chuckled, a scathing reply coming, but suddenly perked with interest inside him. He felt his body move to the door, where he turned his head to the side and saw nothing. He listened and there it was.

Before Reyes could question, Reaper had turned their form to smoke and he leaped into the vents. They slithered along the air conditioning and down into water pipes, stopping as a clear smoke just below the carpet.

Angela and Jack stood there in what Reyes could guess was Jack's dorm. Sparse and unused with documents lining every surface. Jack was an old school boy, preffered things on paper. Angela wasn't wearing shoes or her jacket, dressed in just the pencil skirt and white button up of her uniform from the ceremony. Jack was removing his jacket, setting it across a chair unceremoniously. Neither of them were wearing their medals.

Angela took the offering of coffee, ankles crossed as she leaned against the kitchen counter. She let out a long sigh, watching Jack closely as he paced for a moment, then stopped.

Jack spoke first, speaking in the dim lighting, "I want you to know how much...how much your words meant to me. That you're on my side."

"You say your side…" Gabriel saw Angela swallow thickly, "do you mean against Gabriel?"

"He's becoming twisted by that thing Moira put inside him. It thinks for him, speaks for him. Fuck, when he hit me...it wasn't him. His eyes-"

"Stop," Angela set down her coffee, "Please, Jack, don't-"

"Would you go to bat for me? Against him?"

"'Go to bat'? What does that mean?"

He laughed, hollow and bitter, "It's a baseball term. Gabe used to say it alot."

"You speak of him like he is dead."

Jack ignored her words, "If he does something...something to hurt me, hurt Overwatch, will you fight for me?"

Angela pused her lips, worry creasing her features. She looked like she was going to cry, "Don't speak like this."

Jack watched her for a moment, looking at her as she looked away. He became quiet, silence swallowing them until finally he spoke again. His words were surprised, but certain, and very unhappy, "Why?"

"Jack-"

"Why him?"

"Stop."

"What has he done to deserve-" Jack cut himself off, lowering his tone, "Angela he's incapable of giving you what you deserve."

She rubbed her face, flushed with anger, "You speak like I don't know that already. I've known this for years. Please-"

"Angela-"

"Please, stop. Just stop, Jack. I'm leaving."

Jack approached her, tentative steps that made Gabriel's blood boil with, what? Possessiveness? He didn't know. He heard Reaper chuckle.

Jack cupped her face, running a thumb down her cheek, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I pushed you."

She sighed, "I know. Let's...let's just talk about this later. I can't think straight right now."

He smiled sadly, letting her go, "I understand. Just...heed what I said, alright? With him...there's no hope there. I've known him for decades."

Angela gripped the counter tightly, "I know." He left Jack's dorm alone, her cup still on the counter.

-0-

When Angela reached her own dorm, she blamed the tears on the wine. Angrily, she swiped at her face as she looked for her discarded shoes. Putting them away, she set out to make some ginger tea for bedtime. It was her own personal hangover cure, in case the wine was indeed too much.

She let her hair down, strands falling along her shoulders. She sniffled slightly, moving to the bathroom before she paused. The air felt thick and abnormal. Cold. She checked the thermostat, finding it normal, "Hmm…"

When she moved to close the blinds of her living room, she nearly jumped out of her skin. A silhouette stood in front of the opened blinds. The fake window displayed a nighttime starry sky. It would have been beautiful had she not been so shocked. She stood stock still, watching with wide eyes until, "Angela."

She blinked, "Gabriel? How did you get in here?" She watched him form, turning from a black silhouette to his own self. His hazel eyes were distorted for a moment, reflecting images and light. Then they were normal again. She felt so small, seeing such a supernatural act in person. Yet it was Gabriel himself standing in her living room. "Gabriel?"

" **He loves you, you know.** " the Reaper's voice left Gabriel, smoke curling from around his feet. Angela felt the tendrils on her bare ankles, cold and moving.

"Leave," she grimaced, not falling for his tricks, his deception-

Gabriel moved forward, cupping her face. Just like Jack did, only closer, warmer. Suddenly he was Gabriel, looking at her with no trace of the Reaper. She almost cried in relief, momentarily forgetting herself, "Angela...Angie…"

"Don't do this to me," she whimpered.

She was suddenly taken back by his lips against hers. Soft and gentle. A kiss she'd never received from him. It shook her to the core, startling her with its intensity. Whining, she pressed closer and wrapped her arms around his neck. Gabriel spoke into her mouth, "Let me take care of you, tonight."

She placed her hands on his face, mirroring what he'd done earlier, "You're the one suffering."

"So are you."

She felt her lips tremble, nodding slightly as she felt him kiss her again. His arms wrapped around her waist and he lifted her effortlessly. Lost in the kiss as his tongue touched hers, she simply wrapped her legs around his waist. Her skirt hiked up around her thighs.

He pressed her against the wall, sitting her down on top of her bedroom dresser as he practically tore off his shirt, beaning leaving with it. She ran nimble fingers down his chest and stomach, feeling the hard lines of muscle. Muscle she'd sewn back together countless times. She kissed his collarbone, running open-mouthed kisses up to his neck. He pulled back and unbuttoned her shirt, pulling it from her skirt. He pushed it back, leaving her in her brassiere. She cupped his face once more, feeling the coarse hair of his beard, and her voice came out in a whisper, "Are you still Gabriel?"

"I'm always me."

"Not always," she pressed the issue.

He sighed, reaching and taking her hand from his face. He pressed her wrist to his lips, "It's me, Angie."

She blinked, watching him with shining eyes. She kissed him again and he pulled her flush against him. He picked her up, once again, and pressed her down onto her mattress. She shuffled back towards the headboard on her elbows and he followed, unzipping her skirt as he went. He pulled it off her legs, kissing up her thighs, moving over her underwear, till he was kissing her stomach then her collarbone. She sighed and he kissed up her body, beard scratching lightly at her skin.

She watched the taut muscle of his back as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her chest, between her breasts. She knew he could feel her beating heart under his lips. He looked down at her, hovering over her body, just watching.

She let him watch, looking into his eyes. She saw something in his expression. Something far away and sad. No, not tonight. She wouldn't let him be sad. She reached up, playing with the band of his pants, "Let yourself be human, Gabriel."

He gave her a sad, crooked grin, "Too late for that, doc."

"Nonsense," her hands pushed down his pants and she watched him close his eyes. He helped her get them the rest of the way off, leaving them only in their black, standard-issue undergarments. Nothing fancy or sensual. She almost laughed.

He kissed her when he saw the smile on her features, hand cupping her shoulder. His free hand reached back and unhooked her bra. She let the straps fall off her shoulders and down her arms until the stifling garment was off and her skin could breathe. She sighed at the cold air on her breasts. That cold air was quickly replaced by Gabriel's warm mouth and she gasped.

He busied his hands with pulling down her underwear as she wiggled slightly. If it weren't for Gabriel's place between them, she would be rubbing her thighs in anticipation. A shuffling of fabric and movement of their positions, and he'd entered her so easily she was shocked at the feeling of being filled.

She gasped and he groaned into her neck, composing himself for a moment. He gripped her hips, tight enough to bruise as he tested a thrust, then another. He licked and sucked her neck, marking her up as she tossed her head back, fingers pressed into his back, "Gabriel, oh-"

"Shh, shh," he murmured into her neck, hissing when he hit a particularly deep thrust. She whimpered and wriggled her hips for more friction, whining until her gave her what she wanted. She watched a feral grin grace his face, though this one was all Gabriel's. She'd seen it a hundred times when he was having a good time teasing someone.

It was like a dream. She gasped, nails digging into his back as his groans increased in volume. Suddenly he bit her neck and she gasped, craving the sensation. She watched as tendrils of black smoke swirled around the bed, around them, as he thrust into her.

She shrieked, coming so hard her thighs clenched, and still he went on. He didn't pause for a moment, gripping her thigh and hiking it higher around his back. He moved up slightly, angling his thrusts so that his skin slapped against hers.

She bit at her fingers, so as not to scream, and threw her head back again. He took her fingers from her mouth and she let out a whine, "Gabriel!"

"That's it," he groaned, strong thighs tensing as he switched from pounding to slow and deep. She blinked, looking at him through watery eyes, "that's it, Angie."

The black tendrils held her hands down by her wrists, cool and calming her. She felt no panic in her bones, even when she saw as Gabriel's irises began to blacken. She watched, whimpering again as Gabriel smirked at her. _No, not Gabriel._

His grip was bruising on her skin and she bit her lip so hard she nearly drew blood as she came a second time, suddenly surprised as Gabriel growled like an animal and spilled himself inside her. The sensation was strange and she stared up at the ceiling, panting to catch her breath. She left Gabriel release her legs and pull out of her. Wetness ran down her thighs, but before she had a chance to move and clean herself up, Gabriel was pressing his face into her neck.

His voice sounded strained, like he'd been screaming, "I…couldn't...he was-"

"Shh," she wrapped her arms around him, kissing every part of his skin she could reach. Her voice sounded just as strained, "it's alright. He's still you."

Gabriel didn't reply, just pressed into her neck further. She clung to him just as desperately, watching the smoke around them flow and bounce off the walls. It was...it was almost comforting now. Because Gabriel had been radiating smoke and darkness so long it was a part of him. It meant he was here with her.

This is what Jack was worried about. She turned her head, waiting for him to look at her. When he did, she kissed him, full and deep. Her fingers ran through his beard. Their bodies were drenched with sweat and sex. She could not find it in her to move, for she feared that it would break the spell of whatever was happening.

And when the spell broke, everything would come crashing down.


	11. Chapter 11

**2067: 6 months before the fall of Overwatch.**

Spare her the romantic ideology that sleeping with Gabriel would cause anything but harm. People couldn't be changed by the love of a good woman. Even if said woman was feebly attempting to patch together the most powerful militaristic organization in the world.

She'd woken up cold and alone that morning, expecting nothing else. No longer could she chalk the faint smell of charcoal in her dorm up to imagination. He'd been there and he had been real, but he hadn't been alone. Angela hadn't felt violated by the secondary presence in Gabriel's eyes, something that unnerved her more than anything. Was this the permanent Gabriel in her reality now? This fateful mixture of man and monster?

Angela couldn't help but wonder if perhaps some of Gabriel's darkness was transferred to her through the smoky tendrils pinning her wrists to the sheets. She felt ashen inside, standing on the crisp and clean carpet of Jack's office as he played the sound bite from Ana's latest reconnaissance mission. Her last reconnaissance mission.

It was only brief, the sniper's words were harsh above her breaths. She'd detailed her small perch, though not specifying her exact location. Whomever she hunted was refusing to go down easily. It seemed, from what little information Ana was communicating, that there was a rival sniper on the rooftops. Breathing shallowly in the stillness, Ana grew silent except for the occasional firing of her rifle. She cursed in Arabic under her breath, beginning to communicate something before she cut herself off. The audio file went still again and Angela's heart clenched.

Her anxiety was only heightened by the last part of the audio file. "That…" Ana began, sounding so unlike herself in her shock, "Amélie?"

The hesitation was enough for the opposing sniper, exposed as Amélie Lacroix, to gain the upper hand. The line went dead, possibly with a fracture to Ana's earpiece. The audio clip ended with a cut off of Ana's screaming. Angela felt its echoes in her chest, horror marking her features.

Jack remained still, probably on his third listen through of the audio file. He turned to Angela, looking older than he ever had before. The death of your best friend would do that to you. In his 49 years of life, 24 of those being in Overwatch, Jack had seen many friends die. But Angela knew this one was different. Ana was always unstoppable. Ana had a daughter and husband waiting for her. The kind of light the second-in-command had always shone always cast her as invincible.

But Angela recognized the screams of immense pain. Whatever had happened to Ana...it was certainly terrible. Jack informed her that a team was sent to Ana's last known location, reporting that nothing remained but blood stains. So much blood reported…the chances of survival were grim.

He looked no less worse for wear at the funeral, a surprisingly quiet affair in Egypt. Angela had attended with him, one of the few outside of family that was invited. Ana had always wanted her job to be separated from her family. Even in death. Angela just regretted that they couldn't even provide a body to bury. Few others from Overwatch came and certainly none from Blackwatch. Her family spoke to each other in quiet Arabic, focusing primarily on Ana's quiet husband Sam and her only daughter, a fully grown woman barely able to choke back her tears.

Angela, by nature, wanted to comfort her. But she hadn't regularly seen the woman since she was a young teenager, and didn't feel her presence welcome. Sweet Fareeha, who attached herself to Jack's leg and pouted at Gabriel until he would give in and pat her head. Angela had taught her how to count her own pulse, helping her press her fingers to her jugular and wrist. The girl's eyes had grown wide with interest. Now they were sullen, one eye marked with a mirror of Ana's own tattoo. She would make a fine soldier, but Ana would never want her in Overwatch. Jack would learn to understand and deeply respect that.

On the plane home, Jack looked up at Angela and she saw that he was surprised to see her looking back. Pursing her lips to keep from crying, Angela reaches out and gently touched his hand. Truthfully, she wished Jack had been the one. They could have found comfort in each other, and she still stood firmly on his side. Instead, the man she loved was against her and everything she stood for, looking more and more each day that he was ready for the world to burn.

Angela wasn't even sure he knew Ana was dead. He had to have known. But what Blackwatch knew stayed in those dark halls and between their own agents. Members of the IJC began crawling about the Swiss HQ, searching through files and personnel for any signs of danger or corruption. Members of Blackwatch began to disappear and Angela wasn't sure if that was their own choice or not. She briefly wondered where they would turn to, but figured those questions were a sad thing to answer.

-0-

Jack's office was locked. Gabriel could hear muffled voices. He knew from their condescending tone that they were the IJC's people, probably demanding more files from Jack. Like a dog, he would obey. Probably without a fight, too. Gabriel scoffed. The urge to shadow step through the door, just to see their horrified faces, consumed him. He cursed to the rumbling in his chest.

 _ **We should kill them.**_

 _They're on our side,_ he thought back to Reaper.

 _ **Do you believe that?**_

He didn't directly answer, but Reaper knew his thoughts regardless. No, the IJC wasn't on his side. And neither was Overwatch. The last thought crossed his mind as Jack led the men out of his office, sparing Gabriel barely a glance until they were gone. He looked on edge in Gabriel's presence. _Good._ Gabriel wanted him to be afraid.

Things were coming to a head, one way or the other. He wasn't quite ready to entertain the idea of treason. He definitely wasn't ready to consider if he would hurt Jack like that. Worse, if he would kill Jack.

But with each passing day, each piece of shit in a suit and a UN badge who strolled through Overwatch's halls like they owned the place, Gabriel grew angry.

Jack chose wisely to say nothing, only fixing him with a strange look, like a man looking at a wild animal, and retreated back into his office.

With heavy-booted feet, Gabriel trudged through the hallway angrily, daring any passerby to eye him. He found the medical wing, sterile whites and quiet voices, and interrupted the peace in his search for Angela.

He could have checked her office, but found that she frequented the lab more than anywhere. Angela might be a people person, but her focus was always on her nanite technology more than anything. It was her specialty, after all.

If he were in a better mood, he might have had the decency to be ashamed he was showing his face to her for the first time in months. Since that night together. Call him selfish, he wanted to see her.

He gave her a brief moment to look up from her work to frown at him before he was in her space, approaching her so casually it was almost absurd. She blinked at him, watching him sharply. He gave her no words in the room, knowing that the other staff was watching them not-so-subtly. Nodding his head towards the door, he wanted for her to stand and follow after him. He walked down the hall, knowing the base in his mind easily, and walked until he found the perfect space. He grabbed his passkey and opened the door to an unoccupied office. No windows and thick carpet. No dust, as the air system in the base was always spotless and the office had only been abandoned recently.

She looked concerned now, not paying the room any attention. Her eyes were on him and he relished the feeling until she spoke, "Are you alright?"

She assumed he was hurt, giving him a once-over for any sign of injury. He didn't wait for her to ask again, approaching her space again until he was pressing her into the desk, the furniture itself pushed up against the wall. Her eyes were tired, almost sad now, and he fixated on her lips as she spoke, "Gabriel, we can't."

She was no spring flower. No shy virgin who blushed and squeaked when a man displayed that he wanted her. Angela was beginning to show beyond her years, the stress that brought a dullness to her eyes. He leaned forward, watching for any sign of resistance. She said they couldn't. But they could. They wanted to. It was just that they _shouldn't_.

The problem was that Gabriel Reyes was known for doing things he shouldn't do. Literally the world knew that by now. He knew she had a day of work ahead of her, so he told himself, and...admittedly... _Reaper_ …that he would do his best to be gentle with her.

Speaking of the monster inside, Reaper was strangely quiet. He hardly believed that he was being given privacy, so Reaper must be biding its time. He instead chose to focus on the blonde before him, blinking up at him like he was reading his thoughts.

He almost flinched when she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling up and onto the desk with his help. He leaned forward, breath against her soft skin as he felt her fingers play with the hood of his jacket, "Not going to protest the location?"

Her tone wasn't teasing, wasn't playful, only honest, "If I wanted romance, I would have accepted Jack."

She had him there. He had told her repeatedly, over the span of years, that he couldn't give her the kind of thing a woman like her needed. He felt curls of smoke just beneath the surface of his skin, but ignored it, "Okay," and with that, he continued.

She was receptive, shifting to allow him to unzip the back of her black catsuit as she shrugged off her lab coat. The fabric rolled off her arms and down her chest, peeling like plaster. She smelled clean, like the fabric kept the scent of her body wash on her skin. He didn't do much for himself, simply removing his armor to better provide her some comfort. She ran her hands across his chest and down his stomach, fingers playing with his belt as he leaned to kiss her neck.

She was quiet, only showing her approval with slight nods of her head. At this point, Gabriel's body was hosting two souls. The original soul of Gabriel, who fought this situation as simply using Angela for relieving his frustration. He wasn't a heartless bastard. But...Reaper _was_. And Reaper wanted to relieve the tension.

He decided it would do to at least make this as enjoyable for Angela as possible. He swallowed, allowing her to grip onto his waist as he pulled her catsuit down to pool at her slim hips. He wasn't interested in his own body in the moment, more focused on the smell of her permeating the room as she grew aroused. The light was dim, only filtering in through the door, but they were quiet enough to go unnoticed.

Angela's hands ran along his ribs, likely feeling the roadmap of old scar tissue. She stroked him, almost lovingly, and it made him pause.

She blinked at him, clad only in her bra and pushed-down catsuit, and he suddenly felt a strange moment of clarity. Peace. His throat grew tight and he choked on his words.

Before he could move to shed any more clothing, his muscled arms wrapped around her waist, pulling him to her like a lover. He heard her gasp under her breath, stiffening in surprise at the change in atmosphere. Her hands touched his back, stroking along his spine as he held the embrace. Her skin was cool to the touch, while he was burning on the surface. When he pressed his face into her neck, Angela chose the moment to attempt to speak.

But he cut her off, "Just...let me have this, Ange. This last moment of peace."

Her voice trembled, still a shocked whisper, "Last?"

He didn't answer, only held her tighter. The softness of her skin, the feeling of it stretched over lean muscle and bone. The small hint of nails running down the ridges of his back. A comfort he'd never truly indulged in since that moment in her bedroom. He was doomed. Damn him, he was doomed. The thought that he was never meant to have this, to be free to love a woman like Angela, filled him with dread and anger.

He'd chosen Overwatch easily, never realizing what he'd given up for it. And ultimately it would lead to nothing. Because he was going to destroy Overwatch.

-0-

Angela didn't know what to make of that moment with Gabriel in the unoccupied office. It felt like a goodbye, but she would certainly be seeing him again. Perhaps, it was Gabriel's farewell while the Reaper would remain. He had kissed her just once on the forehead, seemingly distant. It only made sense Gabriel could never truly love her back.

She didn't have long to think over the coming doom, for just as she was finished tidying her wrinkled clothes in the restroom, she heard a commotion. Finding the wing where the offices were, she was able to find Reinhardt from his booming rage. He had a suited IJC member pressed to the wall, looking much like a bear ready to make the kill. Jack's voice was yelling for him to stand down. Torbjorn looked pale at his usually jovial friend's anger. Angela called out to him, "Reinhard, please, stand down." She repeated it, in German, and it seemed to have more of an effect.

Reinhardt's meaty shoulders slumped and he suddenly looked terribly sad. Angela could only imagine his pain at losing Ana. She approached carefully, touching his arm softly in comfort. Torbjorn was by his side as the IJC member straightened his composure. Jack stared the suited man down, "Let me handle my people."

The man glared, but took off while straightening his necktie. As soon as he was gone, Reinhardt roared, "Forced retirement?! Ridiculous. A great insult!"

Before Jack could speak, Torbjorn cut in, "Aye, I know, my friend. But we cannot change their minds. This is not like ye."

Reinhardt grumbled and Jack sighed, "I don't want this either, Reinhardt."

But Reinhardt gave him a look of betrayal. Perhaps it was not only Blackwatch that felt Jack gave into IJC demands so easily. Torbjorn led him away, undoubtedly to calm him down privately. Angela's presence had barely been acknowledged. She frowned at Jack and he snapped, "Are you siding against me, too?"

She gave him a brief look of hurt, "Jack…"

His anger was only a flash in the pan. He reeled himself back, leaning onto his hands against a desktop and sighing dejectedly, "I'm sorry, Angela."

"We cannot pretend this isn't happening. We have _so_ many enemies, Jack. You have many enemies. I am not one of them. We have to stay together."

She placed a hand on his shoulder, but he only looked at it with dull eyes, "Gabriel is my enemy."

"Jack-" she grew frustrated, expecting him to call out her feelings again.

"No, it's becoming clear now. Angela, do you believe in God?"

She frowned at him, confused by his seemingly manic state. His eyes were wide, in horror but also clarity. She tried to be truthful, "I-I do not know, Jack."

"There's a popular hymn...you've likely heard of Amazing Grace."

"Mmh," she tried to jog her memory, "vaguely."

But Jack was barely looking at her now, frowning down at his hands on the desk. Lost in memories and looking over the war wounds across his knuckles, Jack muttered to himself, "I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind but now I see."

She could only watch in sadness as Jack made the decision to fight Gabriel if things came to that. When things came to that.

-0-

Moira stared him down, waiting for a reaction. They were deep in the Blackwatch wing, in a lab all Moira's own, but she wasn't alone. Gabriel stared at her, shirtless and covered in wiring, as she introduced her small companion.

A girl, young enough to be his daughter, with purple wiring woven into her brown hair, stood in near glee as she was introduced to him.

"Sombra," Moira droned, "meet Reaper."

Gabriel glared at Moira for a split second and Sombra nearly cackled, "Don't be so quick to show your emotions, Gabi." She spoke in Spanish to him, further annoying him.

Perhaps, thinking back, he should have been shocked or horrified that Moira was blatantly exposing her allegiance with Talon to him. But so much of his humanity had been beaten back over the years through feeding Reaper and working for Blackwatch, that he found no strong emotion at all. Talon was simply the next logical step for Blackwatch. He should have expected it sooner.

Moira seemed unfazed by Sombra's spanish and simply moved over to her workbench, "Sombra has a unique ability, much like your own. Though yours tends to be more biological. She's able to hack anything, be it technological or organic. I feel she will be useful for our upcomings plans for Overwatch."

"Our plans?" Gabriel raised an eyebrow at her, but the Irishwoman smirked.

"We're going to do things our way. Blackwatch's way. And that starts with taking care of Jack."

Gabriel couldn't find the energy to react to that. Blackwatch couldn't take over Overwatch without Talon. If he needed to make dark allies to lead this coup, so be it. Moira had already begun to take care of things, weaving her tendrils into the thoughts of every Blackwatch agent. All that remained was their leader. And Gabriel would be that leader.

His slightly darkened irises glanced to Sombra, "And you're going to help us take over?"

Sombra smirked, suddenly looking nothing like a girl, but something much more sinister, "It would be my _pleasure_."

-0-

Genji was an assassin. His ability to hide in the shadows was skilled enough to nearly scare Angela out of her skin. As she passed through her dorm's kitchen to the hologram window, a hand shot out and grasped her wrist. Before she could yelp in surprise, a metallic hand covered her mouth. Her blue eyes widened, calming once they made contact with Genji's red ones.

"We must leave."

She had never seen him so distraught. If they were in a lab setting, she would have ordered immediate tests on his vitals. He was wrapped in a cloak, wearing dark clothing over his armor and skin. A bag was slung over his back and his swords were sheathed. Angela glanced him over, eyes meeting his once again, "Oh, Genji."

"There is little time. Come with me, Angela." he was pleading with her, hand still grasping her wrist. His metallic one ran once over her face once he saw the sadness in her eyes.

"I cannot."

He paused for a long moment, watching her with practiced patience. She saw him make the decision in his head. She saw how it pained him, "You feel your place is here. But this place will be no more soon."

She watched him as his hands dropped from her, shifting back into his stoic persona. She swallowed, nodding softly at him. She had no tears left, "I hope you find peace, Genji. You deserve it after so long."

"There is nothing for me here anymore," he shrugged off her words, in an attempt to cut himself off emotionally from her.

"This is my home. I must defend it until the end. Take care. May we meet in the future."

He watched her again for a long time, finally moving past her and out the door. Swift as a shadow, quiet as the night. And he was gone.

She stared out the hologram window, a display of a beautiful, starry night. Like the crumbling facade Overwatch was using to hold itself together, the window was nothing but false. Lifting her hand, she pressed a button to turn off the hologram. It plunged her into darkness. And, if she imaged soft charcoal tendrils along the walls, the darkness comforted her.


End file.
